Merit Board Change

All of those asking about why the Department hasn't made a Detective class in over a year or why there have only been two tiny classes of Sergeants off a list over two years old, we don't have the answers.

But we did notice an amendment to the Department Order governing the Merit Board. The Director of the Human Resources Division was added to the Board that decides who is and isn't worthy of the "merit" promotion. So that means we have the following:

1. Assistant Supt. of Operations (Jackson)
2. Assistant Supt. of Bartending Admin (Cuello)
3. Dep. Supt. of Patrol (Dugan)
4. Dep. Supt. of Investigative Services (Peterson)
5. Dep. Supt. of Professional Standards (Brust)
6. Dep. Supt. of Admin Services (O'Keefe)
7. Director of Human Resources (Tracey Ladner)

So an additional civilian is added to the mix? And a quorum can be constituted (according to the order) if the following persons are present:

• Cuello or O'Keefe as chairperson and vice-chairperson
• two other members of the board

So potentially, on paper at least, we could have three persons with just about zero street experience choosing who the leaders of street cops are supposed to be?

Signing Bonus

As FOP hasn't released any information, we can only suppose this is a rumor. Someone said that it was proposed years ago, but it went nowhere.

However we can tell you right now, if the City comes up with some BS number like $3,000 for almost two years' retro, we will encourage every single reader to vote the contract down. Arbitrators have awarded retroactive pay each and every time it has come up. We'd win. And the City negotiators know that, so we don't see it even being a realistic option.

But we've been surprised before.

Awesome Picture

Some damn lucky people there.

And some damn fine flying done by the pilot.

Quick Hits

Just a few stories:

• A Christmas Story - LIVE! - HAMMOND, Ind. -- In a scene straight out of the movie "A Christmas Story," a 10-year-old Hammond boy got his tongue stuck to a metal light pole.

  Police say the unidentified fourth-grader was able to tell them that a friend dared him to lick the pole Wednesday night. Temperatures in Hammond were around 10 degrees at the time.

  By the time an ambulance arrived, the boy was able to yank his tongue off the frozen pole.

• Thanks for taking the spotlight CFD - A Chicago firefighter has been charged with stealing gas meters from vacant houses and reselling them, officials said this morning.

  Firefighter Milton Stewart, an eight-year department veteran, has been placed on administrative leave, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. The department is conducting its own investigation, which could lead to Stewart's termination, he added.

  Stewart, 38, of the 1600 block of East 85th Street was charged with one count of official misconduct, one count of forgery by altering a document and one count of wire fraud, Police Officer Amina Greer said. The wire fraud charge was related to Stewart's alleged use of a fax machine.

• There's a lawyer joke here somewhere - A criminal defense attorney was arrested and charged with smuggling marijuana to inmates in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building, authorities said today.

  Dave Compton, 61, a lawyer since 1991, was arrested Wednesday after he delivered 30 grams of marijuana to an undercover sheriff's employee posing as an inmate, Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Russ Baker said.

UPDATE: Spelling error corrected. Oops.

Brrrrr

How cold is it??

Keep it clean please.

Global warming, remember?

Open post in the meantime.

Pay to Play Gets Deeper

But you'll never see the main stream media cover it. It'd ruin their fantasy world:

• She hasn’t shown up for work very regularly over the last year or so, so when Michelle Obama’s $300,000 job was cut at the University of Chicago Hospitals, it may have been hard to notice the difference. Crain’s skipped the part about the incoming First Lady, must have been an oversight in their expert analysis of Chicago Business, because we know Crain’s is “Not show business. All business”.

  The Tribune announced the layoff without much analysis, but let the cat far enough out of the bag to prompt our Don Rose to question how important Michelle Obama’s job must have been, as it was so easily eliminated. The New Republic gnashes their dentures at the how a community can be served without Michelle Obama, despite the void of actual labor she has performed while being on the campaign trail. The comments are much more informative than the article in TNR.

This is how "pay-to-play" works in Illinois. Create some do-nothing board job that can be eliminated at the drop of a hat for a politicians wife, child, niece, etc, especially when that politician is in the position of being able to direct "earmark" money to your hospital, university, whatever.

And hey, another brilliant move by the Transition Team nominating a Treasury Secretary who "forgot" to make tax payments. It's almost like there's some "culture of corruption" running rampant.

Spend Green to Go Green?

This would appear to be the wrong way to attack the problem. Unless you're a Chicago politician evidently:

• Fed up with Chicago streets that look more like the surface of the moon, Mayor Daley said Wednesday he wants to join forces with other Midwest states and cities to purchase a more expensive, but less corrosive kind of de-icing salt.

More expensive? But less corrosive? Let's hear more Shortshanks.

• “This salt is not environmentally friendly. It destroys everything. It destroys all your roads, the curbs, landscaping. It destroys your car. And if you ever fell in the street, it could slowly destroy all your clothes,” Daley said.

Whoa, our clothes? That'd be bad. Especially in this cold weather!

• “You put salt down. It gets warmer. The salt melts and goes into any spaces of concrete, erodes the concrete and you have potholes. You spend an enormous amount of money rebuilding all your roads.

Salt doesn't actually melt. And it doesn't freeze to break up concrete either. That would be the physics of water Mr. Mayor. And the physics of shitty construction and crooked contracting that can't seem to build a road that lasts more than two years. But you knew that already, didn't you?

• While other cities are paying as much as $140 a ton for rock salt to get through a second-straight brutal winter, Chicago has the luxury of a two-year contract that locked in prices at $40 a ton.

  Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said he believes the environmentally friendly salt the mayor was talking about is known as “geo-melt.”

  It’s a mix of sugar beet juice, without the sugar, salt water and calcium chloride that’s mixed at city facilities, to hold down the cost to $162 a ton and used sparingly.

So since we're saving almost $100-a-ton for regular salt, we're looking into spending almost $122-a-ton more than the City is already spending for a "green" alternative? We're guessing a mayor scion has just purchased a controlling interest in "green road salt."

• Even if a Midwest purchasing agreement could be worked out to bring down the cost of the rock salt alternative, Chicago would not be ready to make the citywide switch, Smith said.

  “We have six spray trucks we spray it on with. If we were to expand to this, we would have to buy 300 trucks to accommodate it,” he said.

300 new trucks? Now we're beginning to see the dots that will be connected in the very near future.

There Were Cameras?

Oh lord, this is priceless:

• Federal authorities used a video camera as part of their cache of tools to investigate Gov. Blagojevich in the final weeks of 2008 before his arrest, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

  The camera, which likely was remote-controlled, was trained on the Friends of Blagojevich offices, 4147 N. Ravenswood, to help FBI agents identify individuals entering and leaving the campaign offices -- and to identify who was talking on bugs agents covertly planted inside.

And they had taps on at least six phones? Hahahahahahahaha. Honestly, you couldn't make this crap up and here's Blago living it. We think he's fighting a losing battle, but there's no reason he can't take a whole bunch of people down with him. It's not like he's Sorich or some low level functionary and they can give him some dead end job after he serves 18 months in the pen. He's the governor and he's got such a bad image he's not going to be doing any lobbying or legal work or even selling real estate after this is over.

And here's another symptom of the problem facing Illinois politics:

• Gov. Blagojevich was impeached for the second time on Wednesday — and like the first go-round, the unpopular governor drew at least one vote of confidence.

  Newly sworn-in Rep. Deborah Mell, the governor’s sister-in-law, was the only member of the Illinois House to vote against impeachment. The vote was 117 to 1.

Anyone want to guess how many relatives of other politicos are feasting on the taxpayers dime? The Toddler has something like 17 or more relatives earning $100,000 plus on the county payroll. Aldercreatures have relatives who are on the plaintiff end of numerous lawsuits against the city. The mayor's brother runs the County Board - and isn't he married into the Outfit?

The only thing that ought to surprise anyone is the length and breadth of the corruption.

Full Jim Osborne Letter

Someone located the entire Osborn letter in a Sun Times comment section. This is an amazing bit of reading explaining how the Water Department is part and parcel of one of the biggest taxpayer rip-offs in existence. It names names and explains exactly how Shortshanks' people collect millions from the unclouted while other politically connected buildings pay zero for years and years. Go read it.

Pension Disaster Looming

It's everywhere:

• Funds worth trillions of dollars start to plummet in value. Political pressure to be “socially responsible” distorts the market decisions of government-related enterprises, leading to risky investments. Investors who once considered their retirements safely protected wake up to a sinking feeling of uncertainty and gloom.

  Sound like the great mortgage-fueled financial crisis of 2008? Sure. But it also describes a calamity likely to hit as soon as 2009. State, local, and private pension plans covering millions of government employees and union workers with “defined benefit” accounts are teetering on the brink of implosion, victims of both a sinking stock market and investment strategies influenced by political considerations.

Go read the entire article. Then start to wonder what's looming just beyond Daley's reign in office. It would appear that California is where it's all going to start to come apart.

City Council Give Away $$$

We covered this in a committee hearing last month, now it was in front of the whole City Council.

• The Chicago City Council today agreed to pay $2.25 million to the family of a 14-year-old home invader fatally shot in the back by an off-duty police officer in 2002.

  Ald. Ed Burke (14th) said it would be better to pay the settlement to the family of Juan Salazar than risk going before a jury, which could decide that the city should pay even more.

  But four aldermen – Brian Doherty (41st), Eugene Schulter (47th), Mary Ann Smith (48th) and Bernard Stone (50th) opposed settling the case.

$2.25 million to a dead criminal and the City crying poor over our contract.

Which Way the Wind Blows

Completely ridiculous:

• Two days before taking his seat in the “millionaire’s club” they call the U.S. Senate, Roland Burris got a royal send-off from the City Council Tuesday and praise for having so much integrity, he “untainted the process.”

  A resolution originally crafted to pressure Senate President Harry Reid and Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) to seat Burris turned into a love-fest for the man appointed by disgraced Gov. Blagojevich.

  “We all know we got issues with the person [who] appointed him and that the process had been tainted. But when he chose Roland Burris, he untainted the process. He gave integrity back to the process,” said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th).

Bullshit. Blago out-maneuvered, out-thought and out-fought the Illinois Combine. He middled a president-elect and made Washington DC look foolish. Harry Reid, the majority leader in the Senate got called in on the carpet and was told to settle this thing as it's going to make everyone look foolish. The supposedly "united" front the dems were going to present against any Blago appointment evaporated when Blago made his move. Check and Mate.

No Money for a Contract...

But plenty for this crap:

• Use of more taxpayer money to finance Mayor Richard Daley's Olympic dream was approved today by a key City Council panel.
  
  The measure, passed by the Finance Committee and headed for the full Council on Tuesday, is part of a package of city guarantees and agreements required to be included in Chicago's bid, which is due February 12.
  
  The ordinance commits the city to use an unspecified amount of tax-increment financing dollars to help build the Olympic Village that would house athletes during the 2016 Summer Games.
  
  It also guarantees that the city will cover the cost of services such as additional police patrols and street cleaning, estimated at about $45 million. And it reaffirms a guarantee of $500 million--originally made in 2007--to cover any operating shortfall for the Games.

Coming up on 19 months with no contract for those of you keeping score at home.

Cop Stabbed

According to the news, "not life threatening."

• A Chicago police officer was injured in a stabbing on the West Side this evening during a domestic disturbance, police said.
  
  The officer responded to a call for help at about 6:15 p.m. in the 4600 block of West Monroe Street, said Chicago Police Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti.
  
  The call turned out to be a domestic disturbance, and the offender confronted the officer with a weapon and "punctured" him, Ursitti said.

"Punctured" him? What is he, a freaking balloon? He got stabbed. We don't care if it was a box cutter, a steak knife or an ice-pick. Let's not play games with semantics sarge, he got stabbed.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Officer.

UPDATE: Second guessing will not be published, as per the usual rule.

Two Out of Three Arrested

Another person trying to get a gun on a plane?

• A Berwyn man was arrested Thursday after attempting to carry a loaded weapon onto an aircraft at O'Hare International Airport -- the second such arrest in as many days.
  
  Rodolfo Duarte, 27, of the 6300 block of West 37th Street in Berwyn, was arrested Thursday at O'Hare Airport and charged later the same day with boarding an aircraft with a weapon, according to police News Affairs Officer David Banks.
  
  Jefferson District police indicated that a loaded "homemade" firearm, which has no make or model but has the ability to fire, was found inside his bag. One bullet was in the chamber and another was outside the chamber of the gun when he was arrested Thursday afternoon, district police said.
  

This is the second incident in under a week. It's also the third incident in about a month, though no one seems interested in the very first incident.

No word from spokesman Banks about how a certain someone was able to avoid public humiliation, embarrassment and arrest after she brought a gun to the security checkpoint in violation of Federal Law and Department policy. Of course, a certain airport Lieutenant and the Burger King can conspire to make the rules applicable to lesser mortals only.

Future Former Mrs. Peterson

Just sit back and enjoy the circus:

• Drew Peterson's latest love interest has moved in with him, according to distraught friends and family members of the 23-year-old mother of two.
  
  "It's unbelievable," said Joe Raines, the uncle of Peterson's alleged fiance, Christina Raines. "I don't get it, but what are you going do? She's an adult."
  
  Peterson is the 55-year-old former Bolingbrook police sergeant who is the sole suspect in the disappearance of his current wife, Stacy. Authorities are also re-examining the mysterious death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in an empty bathtub in her home in 2004.

We never hear much about wives #1 and #2. Did they get out intact and with Drew's pension? We're they the triggers? And what's the over-under on this one? We'd seriously encourage the family to think about putting GPS in her car, clothes and implanting a device as well.

Concealed Carry Works Again

In Indiana though:

• An attempted robbery early this morning in Hammond turned fatal for one of the suspects, police said, the Northwest Indiana Times reports.
  
  A 38-year-old man and his girlfriend were exiting their sport-utility vehicle in the parking lot of McTaverns bar in the 7400 block of Indianapolis Boulevard when two people attempted to rob the couple. The would-be robbery victim took a handgun from his SUV and shot one of the suspects in the chest, police said.

And the local twist?

• Kenneth Denson, 17, of the 600 block of East 131st Street in Chicago, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the chest about 1:30 a.m., a Lake County coroner's office spokeswoman said Sunday.

Arne Duncan and Shortshanks will no doubt view this as another CPS honor roll student just turning his life around on the road to curing cancer and ending world hunger whose life was prematurely snuffed out by a gun.

We, on the other hand, view it as another reason to support concealed carry for responsible adults and an effective method of controlling crime.

Rabid Bat

Your chances of running into one might seem infinitesimal, but when you figure we're first responders to a lot of crap and Animal Control is among the last to actually show up, this might be important at some point:

• The discovery of a rabid bat in the Lincoln Square neighborhood prompted the city late Saturday to issue a warning against any contact with bats or other wild animals.

  On Wednesday, a house cat discovered the bat in an apartment near Lawrence and Western Avenues and woke up a man and woman in the dwelling, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

• "Rabies should never, under any circumstances, be taken lightly," CDPH Commissioner Terry Mason said in a release sent Saturday night. "This is a deadly viral disease that attacks the nervous system. There is no effective treatment for rabies once symptoms have started. At that point, it is fatal."

  [...] In a typical year, about two or three rabid bats are detected in the city, according to the CDPH

Someone wrote to us and said that a peregrine got into a house in North Lawndale last month. Coyote sightings are a daily occurrence up north and near downtown. Deer are like rats lately. Rabid bats might be more common than not.

Jim Osborne

Your comment was very interesting reading, but it was way too long to publish in our comment section. We are most interested to give it better coverage though. Do you have a site where it is listed in its entirety?

Those who'd like a slight preview of what we're speaking of, we located part of Mr. Osborne's corruption allegations and his research into some of the how and why of Chicago corruption at this link here. Yes, we realize it's The Reader, but comments #5 and 6 delineate corruption, name names and explains how the "connected" few scam tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of services over the years.

If we can acquire Mr. Osborn's complete listing of fraud in a linkable format, we'll have it up shortly.

First Snow, Then Cold

Ah, Chicago:

• By Saturday afternoon, 12 inches of snow fell at O'Hare Airport, causing flight delays and traffic headaches, city officials said.

  The snow that started Friday morning continued into Saturday and the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation said 12 inches had fallen at O'Hare and almost 8 inches fell at Midway.

Streets are actually decent and passable. That doesn't excuse the past December we just went through and the sorry state of water main repairs, but we'll give a little credit tonight.

Now let's see how the deep freeze that's on the way affects the streets.

$153 Million Opportunity Lost

Someone wanted this covered in the comment section. We guess it's just another opportunity to smack Shortshanks around. He's probably going to get the money anyway when Obama gets sworn in:

• Mayor Daley said today he tried to salvage $153 million in federal funding awarded to Chicago to create 10.2 miles of "bus rapid transit" service, but "inflexible" federal bureaucrats would not allow it.

  "They were flexible for the banks. They were flexible for bailing everyone out. But, when it comes to us ... they said, 'No. The next administration will handle it -- Obama's administration.' So, that was it," Daley said.

We expect quite a bit of Federal "largess" to be winging its way to Chicago and Illinois pocket books shortly. And we imagine one or two of the Federal corruption task forces may just fold their tents and go someplace else around the same time. We truly are cynical.

Rifles Being Delivered

But we heard that the training has been suspended and no trunk locks are available yet. Info anyone?

Modern Technological Marvel

The Slapper!


The text is a bit hard to read, but you get the idea. We wonder why this idea never took off. Does the Policy Group have an answer?

Wrong Plantiffs

If you have a beef with some perceived wrong, you need to run it with the best face possible. That isn't happening with the current lawsuit against the FOP:

• Cooper represents Raysurnet Morris and William Whitaker, who sued over the FOP's decision to cover Burge's legal bills after the union didn't pay for their lawyers, calling it unfair.
  
  [...] Morris was fired by the Police Board in October for stalking a fellow officer between 2002 and 2005 and disobeying orders to stop it. The other officer was Ronald Holt, who was in the news in 2007 after his son was murdered on a CTA bus.
  
  Whitaker was charged in 2005 with 21 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor. He was acquitted of the criminal charges, but an internal police investigation led to the loss of his badge.

And the kicker?

• When he was prosecuted on the sex charges in 2005, Whitaker didn't even ask the union to pay for his lawyers

This ambulance chaser sure picked the wrong two people to front for his attempt at jackpot justice - Crook County style.

Cause - Effect

Obviously, these high school basketball games are a magnet for gangs and gunfire, and the fun doesn't stop at the game - it carries over into the weeks following. Witness Friday night:

• At least five people were wounded tonight, apparently when gunmen opened fire from inside a truck outside Dunbar High School on Chicago's South Side.
  
  Three people in critical-to-serious condition and two people in serious-to-fair condition were taken to area hospitals, said Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez.
  
  Marcel Bright, Stroger Hospital spokesman, said a 15-year-old boy from the scene was being treated in serious but stable condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

Isolated incident? How about these YouTube videos sent to us by a reader?

• Hales Franciscan at North Lawndale (Collins)
• Marshall at Crane

We'd bet even money this videos disappear after we link to them, so view the links as soon as you can. CPS basketball - Catch the Fever, Catch the Beatdown, Catch a Bullet.

Fire the Reformers

Yup, Daley's Chicago rolls on:

• The man who took over Chicago's scandal-scarred Hired Truck Program when Mayor Daley needed it most has been fired from his $130,000-a-year city job.

  Bob Benson, director of internal audit, said he was stunned when two unidentified men showed up at his DePaul Center office, 333 S. State, at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 29 and showed him the door.

Fire the people looking a little too closely at where the money goes.

How about a story like this to make 2009 a year to remember?

• BALTIMORE — Mayor Sheila Dixon of Baltimore was indicted Friday, accused of stealing gift cards donated to the city for needy families and failing to report trips, fur coats and other luxuries paid for by a local developer who was her former boyfriend.

C'mon Fitz. Step it up.

Ghost Plows

Are we seeing things?

The other day, we get a dusting of snow and every plow in the world is out there, pushing the dust around, salting so much we have to chisel off the coating on the windshield and Daley is telling everyone that he read Streets the riot act and aldercreatures are promising not to redirect tax money since Picardi and Company "have seen the light." We must have seen twelve plows inside of the thirty minute ride home.

Today, we get a few inches and damned if there isn't a plow to be seen. Anywhere. The streets suck, intersections are hideous again and side streets are like glass. It can't just be us. "Snow Command" under reacts for all of December, makes a brave show in the first few days of January to impress the rubes, then returns to the December plan?

Those briefcases full of cash for the Olympic Committee must be pretty full by now. Can we have a contract please? And some cars that run? And a reasonable effort at keeping the streets clear in a proper and sane manner? Thanks.

New Schedules Rolled Out

Anyone have reports on how it all went?

We heard that the overlap between shifts is resulting in cops sitting around the stations with no cars in one pilot program. In another, we've heard that since cops did (or didn't) have their days off prior to change day, there are a bunch of people MIA or working two-hour days or burning time to account for the new shifts.

Sounds like high comedy, but if it leads to the elimination of the sixth working day, we'll all look back and laugh some day.

You Got to Love Texas

Three justified shootings already this year - by the citizens as well as the police:

• One week into the New Year, Alamo City residents or police have already used deadly force to protect themselves or their homes in three separate incidents, resulting in two deaths and two injuries.

  The recent shootings follow a year in which Alamo City residents and police killed more than twice as many people in what officials have deemed justified homicides, ones in which the shooter acted within the law.

  Tuesday night’s fatal shooting of two suspected home invaders marked the latest example of a resident using deadly force to fend off intruders, authorities said.

• Michael Garcia, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene. Alexander Lopez, 17, was critically wounded and died around noon Wednesday at University Hospital.

  Police said Garcia, a documented gang member who was armed Tuesday, collapsed on a sidewalk outside the near North Side home.

  “I don’t think (Garcia) even had a chance to fire (his weapon),” said Police Sgt. John Slaughter.

Sgt. Slaughter? We're retiring to Texas.

No Favoritism?

Nothing to see here. Move along people.

• Mayor Daley said today he helped move one of Chicago’s oldest homeless shelters from a “decrepit” facility in Greektown to a state-of-the-art building in Lawndale to help the shelter — not longtime mayoral pal Michael Marchese.

  Although the deal cost Chicago taxpayers at least $13.5 million and paved the way for Marchese to build 212 luxury condominiums, Daley insisted there was “no favoritism whatsoever.”

  That’s despite the fact that the city’s decision to funnel demolition funds to the Chicago Christian Industrial League excused Marchese from a city requirement to set aside 20 percent of the units for affordable housing.

Another $13.5 million given away and we still don't have a contract for a year and a half. Isn't this the same Marchese who bought the old CTA land in Lincoln Park for $1 after the City cleaned up all the old fuel oil contamination to the tune of $6 million? Saved Marchese a bunch of EPA work there, but we're sure that wasn't favoritism either.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Sun Times media group:

• Sun-Times Media Group intends to eliminate 12 suburban weeklies next week as part of its campaign to stem losses by eliminating up to $55 million in annual operating expenses, sources said Thursday.

And the news just gets better:

• Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400 million in debt. With more than $1 billion in debt already on the books, only $46 million in cash reserves as of October, and no clear way to tap into the capital markets (the company’s debt was recently reduced to junk status), the paper’s future doesn’t look good.

But the future of information looks better without the NYT.

21-0 to Impeach

Good news:

• SPRINGFIELD -- A state legislative committee unanimously voted today to recommend the Illinois House impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich based on allegations that he abused his powers and sold his office to enrich himself.
  
  Minutes after the vote, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) predicted the full House would impeach Blagojevich as soon as Friday, the first such action in state history.

Better news:

• A Blagojevich spokesman said the governor would not heed some lawmakers' calls to resign before the full House votes.

Now the fun really begins. Will Blago take the Machine down with him?

Paying for Snow Removal

Um, how about a little of that "creative financing" Daley is so hell bent on?

• One day after reversing snow removal cutbacks that turned Chicago side streets into skating rinks, Mayor Daley refused to say how he would pay for the increased overtime.

  But, the mayor hinted strongly Wednesday that he wants Teamsters Union Local 726 to follow the Laborer's Union's lead. Laborer's Local 1001 has agreed to a four-day-a-week, ten-hour workday to reduce overtime and help the city fill more potholes.

Yesterday, Daley was all willing to circumvent State and Federal law regarding grants and matching funds to get a piece of the pie Obama is setting up after the inauguration. Today he can't reveal how cutbacks are going to become dollars for plowing? Has he completely lost his mind?

AIRA Delay

So what happened to the rolling out of the automated case reporting? We saw all sorts of notices that certain districts were going paperless on 05 January and now it's all up in the air again. Who's got the scoop?

No Wonder Daley's Broke

Espresso machines?

• One Chicago Public Schools manager must have really been jonesing for a cup of coffee when officials say she spent nearly $70,000 of the district's money to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for a high school program.

  But five months after the machines were purchased, 22 remained unopened, one disappeared and three were being used at two schools -- though not in the culinary arts program for which they were intended, the district's inspector general said today.

  Officials in a department dealing with work-school programs allegedly separated the purchases to make them appear they came from 21 different schools and were under $10,000.

  By doing so, the purchases did not have to be competitively bid or win school board approval, said Jim Sullivan, the district's inspector general.

  As a result, he said, the district overpaid for the coffeemakers by more than $12,000.

Nickel and dime corruption adds up and this is only one example. There's no way you can convince us this isn't repeated over and over again in a system the size of Chicago's.

And the national radio news picked up the story, hoping that Arne Duncan wasn't bringing this style of "management" to Washington DC as a member of Obama's cabinet. Once again, Chicago politics becomes a punchline for a joke.

Where Have We Heard This

It sounds so familiar:

• Bond was set at $75,000 Wednesday for a northwest Indiana man arrested for allegedly attempting to carry a loaded handgun through a security checkpoint at O'Hare on Tuesday.

  Goce Stojanovski, 47, of the 1100 block of West Driftwood Trail in Crown Point is charged with trying to board an aircraft with a weapon, according to police.

We seem to recall certain people being "exempt" from the law as applied to this poor schlub.

Ghost Hunting Cops?

It appears to be for real:

• A&E is seeking to one-up Sci Fi's "Ghost Hunters" with a new series that blends paranormal investigation with law enforcement.

  The network has greenlit a new unscripted series called "Paranormal Cops," about a group of Chicago police officers who moonlight as ghost chasers in their spare time.

  Given the team's law enforcement credentials, the format seeks to add a new layer of credibility to an increasingly popular reality TV genre which has featured ghost hunting teams founded by professional plumbers, college students and academics.

  The police group includes four officers, two tech assistants and a "medium." The ghost-chasing group existed before the show's producers came along, a network spokesman said, and the officers' various departments have approved the venture.

So are these guys putting cases on ghosts? We don't think haunting is a prosecutable offense in Illinois. And even if it was, if you can't put cuffs on the offender, how can you enforce the law? And judging by the fight that it took to even get a rumor of rifles for the CPD, does anyone really think Shortshanks is going to allow proton-pack particle accelerators on the city streets?

Apologies All Around

Via Sgt. John Northen (ret):

• "Through my experience, I have tremendous respect for the Chicago Police Department and my brothers and sisters in law enforcement. I regret that Parade newspaper magazine chose to take my statement out of context. As a result, I offer my regrets to the men and women of our profession. God bless the CPD. - Jim Previtera"

And a vague apology from Parade Magazine:

• We're sorry you were displeased with the remarks attributed to Col. James Previtera. It was not PARADE's intent to disparage the bravery and courage of our nation's police officers. The quotation was meant to point out that it takes a special kind of law-enforcement officer to serve on the presidential-protection detail, one who is willing to throw himself in front of a bullet for the sake of the nation, without a moment's thought to his own safety. Rest assured that PARADE intended no slight to anyone in law enforcement. Indeed, PARADE has been honoring the nation's top law-enforcement officers since 1966 through our "Police Officer of the Year" awards. We appreciate the work police officers everywhere do to keep us safe.
  
  Thank you again for writing. We appreciate hearing from you.
  
  Lamar Graham
  Executive Editor, PARADE

And in keeping with the spirit, we'll offer our apologies for shooting from the hip where Previtera is concerned. We'll admit to being more than willing to blast away at anything federal in light of the current "troubles" affecting the CPD. The entire Department is on edge and it affects everything, including this place.

Smell the Irony

It just reeks:

• President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive government entitlement programs — such as Social Security and Medicare — would be "a central part" of his effort to control federal spending. Obama made the pledge but provided few details as he named Nancy Killefer as his administration's chief performance officer, creating a new White House position aimed at eliminating government waste and improving efficiency.

So he creates a new position to eliminate waste? And he picks yet another Clinton apparatchik to fulfill the position that no job description exists for? Ah, change we can believe in.

(Former) Secret Service Dickhead

Just proving the theory that all feds (including our current feeb) think local law enforcement are provincial rubes. From Sunday's Parade Magazine:

• Secret Service agents have a job that they must literally be willing to die for. "Cops are trained to retreat when gunfire starts, but the Secret Service has to stand tall and go into the gunfire," says James Previtera, a Secret Service agent from 1998 to 2005 who now runs Florida's Hillsborough County jail system. Adds Special Agent in Charge Eric Zahren, an 18-year veteran, " From day one, you're part of a larger mission and operate as part of a team. It's not about you as an individual."

This was pointed out by a commentator and we have to echo his sarcastic reply that we, too, must have missed that lesson in the Academy. We will personally attest to hundreds of cops we know charging toward the sound of gunfire, dozens more chasing armed subjects, and a very few putting themselves into the line of fire to rescue downed officers. We've worked with a number of Lambert Tree winners and we don't mean the last one either.

We'll also note it was federal employees (the FBI) that left Joe Airhart behind to slowly bleed out into a coma that claimed his life 8 years later. And there are plenty of questions about who was present and their role in that debacle, even years later (no, we won't speculate or allow speculation at this time).

One of the bravest acts we have ever seen was Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy standing tall and taking a bullet for Ronald Reagan. And after McCarthy retired, he didn't become a prison warden like this dumb-ass piece of shit Previtera - he became Chief of Police in Orland Park. And we bet that he doesn't go around belittling cops because he did his job, did what he was supposed to do, did what his training dictated.

Previtera owes a lot of people an apology, starting with whatever police academy passed his sorry ass out of training with the attitude that cops retreat from gunfire. There's a wall in Washington DC that gives lie to that statement every single day and we add over 100 names to it every year, many of whom died racing into gunfire to save innocent lives.

Cop's House Torched

She works in the far south suburb of Lynwood and lives in Dyer, Indiana. Or she did until someone burned her house to the ground:

• It was no secret that Kelly Johnson was a police officer. She wore her Lynwood Police Department uniform when she left the house and often parked a squad car in her driveway.

  Neighbors told her they felt safe when her squad car was there. But now the Lynwood patrol officer and her family don't feel secure anywhere after their home in Dyer, Ind., was destroyed in a fire.

  The Dyer man charged in the arson allegedly stood and watched the fire and later told police he set the blaze, in part, because he doesn't like cops.

And that isn't the worst of it:

• [Offender] Costello told police that he set the fire because he was angry about being rebuffed by a woman at a nearby bar earlier that night, [Lake County Police Chief Marco] Kuyachich said. He said that he didn't like police officers and knew that a female police officer lived in the house.

  He also said that he knew the children were inside and watched the fire burn for at least 15 minutes, Kuyachich said.

Officer Johnson and her family lost everything, including five dogs and a cat. People can donate by contacting the Lynwood Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #287 or the First National Bank of Illinois in Lynwood or a First Midwest Bank in Indiana.

Felon Wants Pension

A firefighter. But a connected firefighter, so who knows what he'll get:

• A former Chicago firefighter convicted of arson filed a lawsuit today challenging the recent denial of a city pension.

  Jeffrey Boyle, 50, had argued he was entitled to the pension because he did not use Fire Department equipment when he set the blazes, court documents show.

  [...] Boyle, a Chicago firefighter for 25 years, was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2006 after he confessed to setting a series of fires in Chicago and Park Ridge.

  His brother, John "Quarters" Boyle, a former city employee, was convicted in 2005 for extorting bribes in the federal Hired Truck probe and in 1992 for embezzling millions in nickels, dimes and quarters from the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

Quarters' conviction in 1992 didn't stop him from gaining politically connected jobs throughout the Daley administration. We don't see why a little thing like an arson conviction ought to stop his brother from collecting firefighters pension.

How to Steal Money

Amazingly, Fran does some original reporting:

• With Gov. Blagojevich facing impeachment, Mayor Daley is trying to engineer a political end-run around Springfield when it comes to Chicago's share of the $800 billion economic stimulus plan being crafted by President-elect Barack Obama.

• Daley was cagey when asked how a city struggling to survive its worst budget crisis in recent history would come up with the matching funds needed to qualify for federal grants. That's normally where the state comes in.

  "That's how you do creative financing," he said.

Creative financing. And also how you get around state oversight and a layer of reporting results to the Feds.

• Chief Financial Officer Paul Volpe, the mayor's newly-designated chief-of-staff, refused to say what the mayor meant by "creative financing."

Yeah, that's what we'd say, too. Especially with the feebs peeping in most keyholes, listening at every phone and going over boxes and boxes of paperwork.

Frank and Fran Strike Again

Straight-up thieves is all they are. As reported on SCC two days ago, Frank Main and Fran Spielman suddenly discovered that there has been a change in City policy and ordinances:

• Chicago businesses won't get any mercy for false burglar alarms under a new revenue gathering policy quietly approved by the city.

  In the past, businesses could have up to three false alarms before fines kicked in. Now, the fine is $100 per violation right off the bat.

Whatever the Sun Times is paying Frank and Fran, they're getting ripped off. The "dead tree" media is so far gone, we expect them to be on Capitol Hill next month demanding bailouts like the Big Three automakers.

UPDATE: When we quote the media, you can hover over the link and see it says "Chicago Tribune" or "WBBM" or wherever the quote came from. Most times we even type in "From the AP" where we happen to find the story.

We credit the source. That's what we're pointing out. That's what reputable journalists and reputable bloggers do. Hell, we give credit to anonymous commentators who tip us off to interesting stories.

More Red Light Cameras

Based on an Appellate Court decision no less:

• A federal appeals court has given the green light to red-light cameras that have pumped out more than a million Chicago tickets and generated $100 million in sorely-needed revenue since 2003.

  The ruling by the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals preserves one of the city's few revenue sources not subject to the economic downturn -- and clears the way for a major expansion that will install cameras at more than 330 accident-prone Chicago intersections by 2012.

• "A system of photographic evidence reduces the costs of law enforcement and increases the proportion of all traffic offenses detected. These benefits can be achieved only if the owner is held responsible. This need not mean that the owner bears the economic loss. An owner can insist that the driver reimburse ... if he wants to use the car again (or maintain the friendship)."

The ruling rejects the argument that the owner can't be held liable if someone else is using their car and commits a violation. The court holds that the registered owner is ultimately responsible for any and all violations, even if they aren't physically in the car. This would seem to be a slippery slope, especially once lawyers get involved. Are friends going to be suing friends over $100 when someone lends the car to a neighbor to make a grocery run? Or pick up a kid from school?

We definitely foresee an uptick in stories like these though - humorous and ingenious:

• Whenever a new, relatively unpopular technology hits the streets, you can always count on teenagers to try and exploit it for their own gain. Such is the case with speed cameras, as high school students in Maryland have begun playing the "Speed Camera Pimping Game," wherein they attempt to punk the not-so-accurate cameras by creating faux license plates that can be traced back to peers and teachers they have it out for. The trend has parents and law officials worried, and it raises even more questions about the cameras' usefulness.

  Students at Richard Montgomery High School in Maryland have discovered that they can duplicate the license plates of their archenemies by printing a Maryland plate template on a sheet of glossy photo paper and digging up a handy license plate character font, according to a parent speaking to The Sentinel. This may sound like a janky craft project at first, but these cameras are not sensitive enough to pick up the differences between these paper license plates and the real things. The students then tape the faux plate over their own and purposefully speed in order to be caught by the speed camera, causing the real owner of the license plate to receive a $40 citation in the mail.

Not that we'd ever support such shenanigans. Even if the plate said READ ME.

Birds of a Feather

Nice pick Barack:

• New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday announced that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract.

  Richardson's withdrawal was the first disruption of Obama's Cabinet process and the second "pay-to-play" investigation that has touched Obama's transition to the presidency. The president-elect has remained above the fray in both the case of arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the New Mexico case.

Obama remains "above the fray" as AP so blithely puts it, because the AP and the rest of the media refuse to do their jobs concerning "the chosen one." If the media had done even the barest followup of their own archives, they'd have found out Richardson is a habitual liar:

• Gov. Bill Richardson is coming clean on his draft record—the baseball draft, that is, admitting that his claim to have been a pick of the Kansas City A's in 1966 was untrue.

  For nearly four decades, Richardson, often mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate, has maintained he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics.

  [...] But an investigation by the Albuquerque Journal found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A's, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team.

  Informed by the newspaper of its findings, the governor acknowledged the error in a story in Thursday's editions.

Error? It's a blatant lie Mr. Richardson. And you repeated it for 40 years!

Not to worry though. Here's the next big story for the media to ignore:

• A developer in New York state donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton's foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman's mall project.

  Hillary Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.

  She also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

Gee whiz - pay-to-play strikes again! And still no one in the media has noted that Mrs. Chosen One herself sat on at least one board paying her a cool salary right after her husband was put in a position to earmark millions for their research projects.

But we guess people just like to surround themselves with the people they're used to dealing with. Water seeks its own level after all. So does sewage.

New Links

A bunch of people have commented (positively) on the utilities provided by the below links, so we're making them sidebar additions:

• FiveFrank.com has a bunch of interesting and useful programs available around the site. They also appear to provide support, repair and recovery for your computer needs. Hopefully, they can fix the laptop we use to watch DVD's at...nevermind.
• ChicagoCop.com appears to be based around the "Field Guide" we picked up at the uniform store a few weeks back. All those cards, cheat sheets and training manuals that were just a bit too unwieldy for the metal report box we carry, are combined into one book.

Open post in the meantime.

What is Zell Thinking?

Gaddafi gets editorial space? An allegedly repentant terrorist gets space in Colonel McCormick's paper? Thank god we canceled our subscription to that rag years ago.

• America, like any other country in the world, has the right to defend itself as well as to seek to live in permanent peace. Its remote geographical location—insulated by two vast oceans and with non-threatening neighbors to the north and south—has made it a haven for immigrants and refugees, away from the conflicts and ambitions of the old world. Such a stature makes America the worthy host of the United Nations. Such a status would also qualify it to be a neutral country.
  
  As America reassesses its role in the world under a new president, it should consider a return to the Monroe Doctrine, which called for non-interference in problems or relations with Europe, and non-expansion by European countries of their colonial hegemony toward America. This principle of non-interference should be extended by and for all countries of the world.

And he gets to criticize our foreign policy? Appeal for the US to be neutral in world affairs? Well, with the new administration coming in, we don't doubt that he going to get part of his wish.

Hey Zell, where's our column?

FOP Sued - Part II

The FOP is being sued over the decision to cover Burge's legal fees and not covering two particular black officers' legal fees. Here's the Tribune article again:

• On Wednesday, one current and one former Chicago police officer filed the lawsuit against the Fraternal Order of Police for racial discrimination.

  Raysurnet Morris and William Whitaker, who both are African-American, say the union refused to pay their legal fees, while at the same time funding Burge's defense. Burge is white.

  The suit also asks the union to pay damages and defense fees.

A quick search of the Tribune archives reveals this snippet of a 2005 article:

• COPYRIGHT 2005 Chicago Tribune

  Byline: Jeff Coen
  
  Feb. 2--A Chicago police officer who slipped his phone number to a 15-year-old girl during Traffic Court has been hit with criminal charges after allegedly having a sexual relationship with the teen, authorities said Tuesday.
  
  William Whitaker, 40, had written the girl's father traffic citations following...

You have to register for the full article.

That being said, if the FOP gives one single nickel to this sorry fucking excuse for a cop and pedophile-wanna-be, there will be hell to pay on a number of fronts. Unless of course the contribution goes to pay for his public castration.

John Knight Remembered

From an e-mail we received:

• Dear SCC, We need your help to publicize a gathering of friends of Officer John Knight, who was killed in the line of duty in 022 on 09 Jan 99. Maybe a separate thread on the blog? We would appreciate it. Thank you.
  
  The 10 year anniversary of the untimely death of Officer John Knight is coming up Friday, January 9th. We are having a get together at the Stadium Club, 116th and Western, where all of John's friends can get together, enjoy some good food, and trade your favorite stories of working with him. Food is being donated by the bar owner, Danny Cullinan, and we are going with a "Feed the Kitty" system for paying for the refreshments (everyone drops $20 in the bucket by the bar, and the bartenders pull from there to pay for refreshments. If money runs out, the hat gets passed around for an extra $5- 10 to cover more refreshments and/or tips for the bartenders).
  
  Count on a very good time, and please be kind to the people working there. They are always FANTASTIC to us.
  
  Please contact Sgt Dawn Melchert (022 Tact) at 773-218-5066 to RSVP. We need to give the Stadium Club a good headcount to know how much food to prepare.

Arrest in Metra Cop Slaying

Good news:

• Authorities intend to charge a 20-year-old Gary, Ind., man with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Metra Police Officer Thomas Cook in a train station parking lot in Harvey over two years ago.
  A source close to the investigation told the Tribune that the man was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Monday morning. Court records show he is currently in jail awaiting trial on an unrelated attempted murder charge, from less than two months after the Sept. 27 slaying of Cook, 43, of Dyer, Ind.

Hopefully, the State can close the books on this one with a court win and an execution.

Retro Calculator

Over at a site called "Five Frank." It has a couple of interesting programs and a retro calculator at this link here.

The numbers are derived from an average of the last known city offer and the last publicized FOP proposal. A nice look at what might be if all comes down on our side.

Rumors of Retro

There have been a lot of rumors floating around the comment sections lately regarding "no retro" being part of the negotiations.

Any contract offer that doesn't include retroactive pay should be voted down without hesitation, because we will win that one in arbitration. We've gotten retro in each of the past contracts and an arbitrator is bound by previous agreements, not the City crying poor.

We certainly can't believe that the FOP would be negotiating its own dissolution and decertification should they actually be seriously considering a "no retro" contract.

But then again, we've been surprised before.

Burglar Alarm Changes

The media really ought to address this. Beginning 01 January, the Police Department stopped issuing False Burglar Alarm citations. Instead, False Burglar Alarms are to be written on Administrative Notices of Violation (ANOVs).

If we aren't mistaken, under the old system, businesses were forgiven up to five false burglar alarm citations for a calendar year. Now, since the violation is noted on an ANOV, the business gets an "administrative hearing" which, as a wholly owned entity of the Department of Revenue, means that fines are going to be imposed almost every single time.

On one hand, we don't really mind. False alarms eat up a lot of time that could be better spent elsewhere and the recurring regular alarms ought to get hammered for wasting everyone's time and contributing to the "boy who cried wolf" syndrome. On the other hand, we don't remember seeing any word of this coming down the pike and it appears like a case of "gotcha!" enforcement on unsuspecting businesses. Businesses that pay quite a bit in taxes and licensing fees already.

Weekend Violence Update

WBBM 780 has a blurb in their updates:

• A 15-year-old Park Ridge girl was shot and critically wounded while leaving a Lawndale party early Saturday on the West Side.

  About 2 a.m., the girl and her girlfriends were leaving a house party at 1113 S. Albany Ave. when they saw an altercation outside, police said.

  The girls hid in a gangway and a man brandishing a blue, steel semi-automatic handgun approached the girl, showed them the gun and asked, “What now bitches?” The man then fired one shot that struck the girl -- from north suburban Park Ridge -- in the abdomen, police said.

Gee. Fifteen. From Park Ridge. In North Lawndale. At two AM. What could possibly happen?

And the chilly weather doesn't seem to be slowing Chalkie at all. Two more homicides and seven shootings are listed at various locations around the city.

At Least We Aren't in Columbus

Per capita-wise we mean:

• The following 2008 preliminary HOMICIDE counts/percent change from 2007 are from the Associated Press.
  
  NYC 522 (+5.2%)
  CHICAGO 508 (+15%)
  LA 376 (-6%)
  Detroit 344 (-13%)
  Philly 332 (-15%)
  Baltimore 234 (-17%)
  D.C. 186 (+3%)
  New Orleans 179 (-15%)
  Columbus 108 (+37%)
  Cleveland 102 (-24%)
  Milwaukee 71 (-32%)
  Gary, IN 51 (-28%)

While the AP is reporting 508, the Tribune is reporting 509. No word on the discrepancy.

Econ 102

We've pointed out time and time again where a higher tax rate is going to depress revenues. Here's where reality sets in:

• City government took in tens of millions of dollars less in 2008 than it predicted just a few months ago, which will force further cost-saving measures or a drawdown of a rainy-day fund, the city's top financial officer said today.
  
  "We're some $31 million below what we actually thought" in September, said Chief Financial Officer Paul Volpe, whom Mayor Richard Daley has tapped as his next chief of staff.
  
  A good portion of the lost income resulted from real-estate transfer tax collections that were far below the city's already-lowered estimates. The city expected to collect more than $30 million for the last three months of 2008 but instead collected just $20.5 million.
  
  Sales tax collections dropped by millions of dollars in September compared to the year before, Volpe added. The city has yet to receive its sales tax revenue for the last three months of the year, but Volpe said he was not optimistic.

We aren't optimistic either. We certainly won't be optimistic that they might start to realize that the only thing that raises tax revenue is cutting taxes.

Blago Tapes to be Released

Monday promises to be a fun filled day when the government releases portions of the Blago tapes:

• Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.

  Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

  Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones — the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama — because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.

So it looks like there is tape with the head of the US Senate pressuring Blago to move a certain direction on the seat-selling-scandal. Reid isn't alleged to have done anything wrong, but being dragged into the political cesspool of Illinois politics isn't anything to celebrate.

Kass has an amusing set of letters linking Patti Blago to Rezko to Obama and all tied together by none other than Roland Burris.

Ah, France

You think we had it rough New Years Eve?

• Preliminary: At least 445 cars were torched over the night of New Year's Eve in France, a 20 percent rise on last year, but there were relatively few clashes with police, the Interior Ministry and police said on Thursday.
  
  Car burnings are regular occurrences in France but the registering the New Year's Eve total has become something of a tradition since they achieved symbolic status in the violent rioting that shook many of the country's poor suburbs in 2005.
  
  With riots in Athens heightening worries that the economic crisis might spark a resurgence of the violence seen in the run-down "banlieues" then, 35,000 police were mobilised on New Year's Eve, some 7,000 more than last year.
  
  
• Updated: The French press reported that the Interior Ministry released a final "verified" count of 1,147 vehicles burned in France over New Year's Eve. The number is up 30.64% from last year's total, 878.

It's sort of like "Devil's Night" in Detroit but instead of burning abandoned buildings, they torch cars. Those Frenchies, so continental and sophisticated.

Pre-Tax vs Post-Tax

And speaking of major changes:

• everyone check your paychecks insurance deduction is now being taken out on an after tax basis not a pre tax basis CHECK YOUR STUBS AND CALL THE UNION...

This appears to be a major change and we never heard anything about it. Anyone care to explain if this was a change in Federal tax law? A closed loophole? An effort to further confuse and confound everyone?

This is not some crazy rumor - we checked our most recent pay stub against the previous one and it's definitely altered.

Know Your Key Date

From the FOP Current Updates:

• Members should be aware that the Chicago Police 2009 Operations Calendar has had a major change this year. Traditionally, an officers Misd/Ordinance Key was listed on the left side of each date box while the officer's Traffic Court Key was listed on the right side of each date box. This year the Department decided to reverse these keys. The Misd/Ordinance key is on the right and the Traffic Court Key is on the left.

And we bet we know exactly why the Department did this - to increase the number of suspension days given out to "save" money for the Olympic dream.

What a way to nickel-and-dime the boys and girls.

Quick Hits

Have done this in a while:

• Blackhawks lose a home-in-home series - The Detroit Red Wings took the Winter Classic 6-4 over the Chicago Blackhawks before an enthusiastic outdoor crowd at Wrigley Field. Damn those Redwings anyway. And damn, it was cold out there.
• New taxes in the Chicago worker's paradise! The pocketbooks of Chicago residents, workers and visitors won't be gobbled up by a big, single tax bite at the start of the year, but they could be nibbled to pieces as the year progresses.
  
  Mayor Richard Daley's budget includes dozens of new or higher taxes and fees to raise an extra $53 million. It also has noticeable cuts, including the end of the free trolleys used by hordes of tourists since 2000 and fewer downtown traffic aides.
• FOP sued over defense fund allocation - A lawsuit has been filed in federal court demanding that Chicago's police union stop paying legal fees for former Cmdr. Jon Burge.

  Burge is accused of lying under oath about torturing black suspects into confession.

  On Wednesday, one current and one former Chicago police officer filed the lawsuit against the Fraternal Order of Police for racial discrimination.

So if the other officers are acquitted of the charges, can they apply to the Defense Fund for reimbursement? We understand why Burge was covered, in theory, as he was an FOP member prior to the creation of supervisor unions and such. And we understand the unwillingness of the Defense Fund to cover certain unsavory acts committed outside the scope of duty-related activities. Is every decision made on a case-by-case basis? Or what?

Humorous Burris Takedown

Steve Chapman in the Tribune:

• Burris is the prototypical time-serving career politician who owes his success to being simultaneously ambitious and bland. He has never been one to challenge the status quo, but no one underestimates his self-esteem. The two Burris children, after all, are named Roland and Rolanda.
• But logic has never been his strong suit. A longtime advocate of a national handgun ban, Burris organized Chicago's first Gun Turn-in Day in 1993. But when he ran for governor the following year, he admitted that he owned a handgun ("for protection,") and did not hand it over to police as he urged others to do.

Such a typically liberal Chicago Machine hack. Think of this appointment as some sort of political payoff. We heard that if he serves even one day in the Senate, he gets a full Senate pension to go along with his other one (or ones).

012???

First homicide of the year in the Monroe District at a nightclub shooting.

Happy New Year

At the end of 2007, we had had about 1.8 million visitors over 3.5 years.

In 2008, we did over 2.8 million alone.

So in wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year, we also extend our thanks for making this a very popular place to visit. We will make the effort to maintain the writing and posting you keep coming back to read. It wouldn't be possible without your visits, your comments, and your constant attention and input.

Thanks again.

2009 Predictions

Gaze into our crystal ball and see if you can see what we see. We'll try to keep it short, sweet and simple. Same categories as last year.

• Politics - Local - Too much of this is dependent on what the feds have on Blago. Thousands of intercepted phone calls? You can't tell us he wasn't talking to committee men, precinct bosses, state reps, senators and Washington DC people. Or a certain mayor. What will Mell do to protect Patti? We expect more scandal to muck up City politics.
  
• Politics - State - The Blago case will move forward, he will be impeached, he will be removed from office because Madigan and Daley want him removed from office. If Rod stays in, he will drag down other state-wide candidates and the Machine cannot abide this. Blago's impact will be felt all over.
  
• Politics - National and International - Here's where Blago spills over onto the national stage, too. The national democrats will make hay about Roland Burris, but he'll probably end up seated, maybe via a court decision. Obama will launch a series of initiatives, most of which he will have no idea how much they will cost, but he doesn't care about money - he's the "chosen one" who will bring change to Washington. Expect attacks on gun rights, police, pensions, and a bunch more things we take for granted. China continues to cause the US problems, the Middle East remains the most screwed-up section of the world, South America burns like a French suburb.
  
• Sports - Bears stagnate, Cubs make a serious run again, Ozzie flips his shit one time too many and the Sox just miss the playoffs, Bulls suck and the Blackhawks begin moving a round or two closer to Lord Stanley, but not quite all the way there. We're missing one piece and that will arrive fall 2009.
  
• Department - This will not be a good year. The aggravated battery and homicide rate will continue to climb as the band-aids that are "brainstorms" prove to be ineffective and even counterproductive. Patrol continues to be the neglected child and manpower becomes stretched even thinner. The contact will come up for a vote. Upon ratification or arbitration, expect an extra 100 to 150 retirements along with the predicted 550 or so. Someone up high is going to make a serious proposal at closing a district, maybe two, to alleviate manpower and equipment shortages. One class each of Lieutenants, Sergeants and Detectives. Tahoes arrive. Rifles maybe. Another J-Fed reorganization. Scandals continue.
  
• General - We could take a few gratuitous swipes here, but we won't. Too much of 2009 is going to revolve around Washington and Illinois politics and we're sick of it already. Oh yeah, in the fall, Chicago wins the 2016 Games.

Readers are welcome to make their own predictions with the following restriction - we will not allow people to wish death or damage in any way, shape or form upon public figures. NYPD Rant had visits from the feebs and the Secret Service about a certain topic. That ain't happening here.

Reviewing Last Year's Predictions

Time for that trip through last year's crystal ball to see how well we did.

• Politics - Local - a continuing series of low level indictments. We've been hoping for more years than we've been running this blog that something big will break, but we are always disappointed. This year, we'll aim low.

Result? Not too much on the local political scene in the indictment sense. We smell blood in the water and hopefully the feds do, too. Who knows what Blago will spin about the Machine.

• Politics - State - Someone big indicted. Blago or Mrs. Blago. And if the media did it's job, it will have a big impact on Obama's future as well.

Result? We guess we called this one 100% on the money. Including the part where the media didn't do its job and as a result, we have a president-elect with pretty much the thinnest and most questionable resume in history.

• Politics - National and International - Hillary has already gone negative and it's cost her. Obama is running pretty well, but has too many skeletons if the media would just look for them. Edwards? Let's face it - the presidential race on BOTH sides is looking truly grim. Everything else? Same as 2007 - the more it changes, the more it stays the same.

Result? McCain ran a crappy campaign and was not the candidate the Republicans should have fielded. Hillary snarked her way into oblivion, Obama's skeletons remained hidden by the media and Edwards blew up in a political fireball not seen since Gary Hart and Monkey Business. America is the loser in this election.

• Sports - continuing mediocrity everywhere with the notable exception of the Blackhawks. With Bill Wirtz out of the picture and and the Hawks on free TV, we've seen our first consecutive sellouts in a few years or more. A few right moves and the Hawks are playoff bound like the old days and competing for the Cup in 3 years.

Result? We'll call this one another homer for us. Hey? We're grading it. We'll grade it on the curve if we have to. We expect the playoffs like the Blackhawks expect to win. And we'll wait the three years if we have to.

• Department - The Chinese proverb states "May you live in interesting times." Let's just say we're hoping for really really interesting this year from the new Supe and not so interesting changes as the SOS and other scandals wind down finally. Manpower continues to suffer.

Result? We really ought to charge for the prediction in 2008. This was a pretty damn amusing year at times and at other times, we wanted to pull out what remains of our poor gray hair. We sense more of the same in 2009.

• General - global warming continues to not impact anything except Al Gore's bottom line; the economy continues to chug along, never spectacular but not a massive downturn either; illegal immigration continues to drain resources; and no one really cares.

Results? Global warming has become "climate change" which is a polite way of saying, "Oops, sorry, we don't know what next year is going to bring, let alone 50 years from today." Gore continues to get rich off smoke and mirrors and flawed science, so we can call that a win for us. We, along with most of the world, didn't think the housing market would tank, credit would tighten and oil would drop to $37 a barrel, so that's a loss. And the only drain illegal immigration is having nowadays is the population - the number of illegals fleeing back over the borders because of the economy is pretty high.

In our opinion, we did a bit better than last year, but not as good as two years ago. We've got a separate post up for 2009 predictions.

Credit Union Arrests

Finally, some of the story emerges:

• Police have arrested eight people in a two-month-long investigation of at least $150,000 in credit card fraud against members of two police credit unions, officials announced late Tuesday.

  The fraud ring, which involved seven employees of Chicago-area retail stores, hit 140 accounts at Illinois State Police Credit Union and the Chicago Patrolmen's Credit Union, according to Illinois State Police. The ring operated out of Crestwood, although most of those arrested were from Chicago, according to a police press release.

  The investigation involved state police, the U.S. Secret Service, the Illinois attorney general's office and the Chicago Police Department, according to police. Police did not identify the retail stores involved, but corporate security for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., also assisted in the investigation, according to the release.

This is where a lot of the big arrests may be made in the coming years - long term financial fraud investigations. Maybe they could pick up the mayor and aldercreatures while they're at it.

First Deputy Office Dissolved

As of today, the Office of the First Deputy (Unit 140) is dissolved?

We heard a bunch of people were headed back to the Districts as a result. Is this another HQ dumping? Anyone got numbers?