They Grow Up So Fast

To paraphrase - who raised them?

• A judge set bail today at $100,000 each for three teen-age girls charged as adults with the armed robbery of two University of Chicago students this week near the South Side campus, authorities said.
  
  A gun brandished by a fourth suspect, a 14-year-old girl facing juvenile charges, discharged while the girl was pistol-whipping a 28-year-old female student early Monday, but no one was shot, police said. The woman was accompanied by another student, a 22-year-old man.
  
  Michelle Jones, 17, of the 12200 block of South Elizabeth Street, Nataya Collins, 16, of 1200 block of West 74th Place, and Kenyadrea Simpson, 15, of the 500 block of West 125th Place each were charged as adults with armed robbery, according to Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin.
  
  A judge today set their bails at $100,000 each, said Conklin. They are scheduled to appear in court next on Nov. 6. 

Gee, and they're roaming around one of the more famous campuses in the world, pistol whipping grad students and robbing them.  Good thing crime is down and the criminal elements aren't finding easy pickings anywhere.

On a related note, someone commented that there was a Channel 7 report stating crime was up?

• Channel 7 news tonight reports that "although one set of numbers show assaults up 22%, another set is expected to show that crime is actually down."

Anyone see that report?  Or has it disappeared as it was realized this bucked the narrative that everything is down....except murders and shootings.  And car thefts.  And bank robberies. And burglaries.

Illinois Concealed Carry

The battle continues, centered around Rockford:

• In the only state that doesn’t let its residents walk around with concealed firearms, a northwest Illinois county could become the testing ground for gun enthusiasts who want a clean sweep for their Second Amendment rights.
  
  A grass-roots movement in Winnebago County is taking aim at Illinois’ long-held position, setting up a possible showdown between gun-rights advocates and a sympathetic state’s attorney who believes the effort won’t pass legal muster.
  
  The county has scheduled a pair of hearings this month to determine whether it should allow people to carry guns within Winnebago borders. The proposed ordinance – which was written after officials received a petition with more than 11,000 signatures this year – would contradict state law.

And why would Winnebago county be fighting for this?

• “Illinois is now a magnet for every bad guy in the country,” Sonnenberg said. “If you were a bad guy, where would you go, where your victim won’t be able to shoot back at you? That’s why our crime rate is going through the roof."

Evidently, Rockford is where all of Chicago's crime went when it left town, so they need guns to protect themselves, unlike this Utopia we reside in, where unicorns and rainbows populate every corner on the south and west sides with a smattering a fairy dust on the north.

Increase in the Increase

Weeknight mayhem:

• A man was fatally shot as he parked his car in his garage in the Bridgeport neighborhood this morning and at least six people were wounded in overnight shootings across Chicago, police said.

This was a Tuesday night, so it isn't counted as "weekend" numbers.  But October seems to be running ahead of last year - any totals out there?

Don't Move.....

BLAM!

• A hooded gunman shot and wounded a man on the Gold Coast this morning, Chicago police said.
  
  The 41-year-old man was shot near State and Chestnut streets about 5 a.m., police said, citing early reports.
  
  The man was taken to nearby Northwestern Memorial Hospital, but his condition wasn't immediately available.
  
  The shooting happened on the sidewalk at 7 E. Chestnut St., outside the Tempo restaurant.
  
  The victim told police he was leaving the restaurant with three young women when the offender approached and said, "Don't move."

The Gold Coast, hmmmm? Mistaken identity? Of just another instance of the "wilding" crowd getting a little ....well, wild. In any event, not a headline Rahm wants to see on anything approaching a regular basis. With the media in his pocket though, that's not too likely.

Housing Crisis Over!

At least for some connected people that is:

• Former Mayor Richard Daley has sold his longtime Near South Side town house to his daughter and her husband.
  
  
  Property records show Daley sold the 3,040-square-foot home in the 1400 block of South Prairie for $750,000 on Sept. 13. The buyers were daughter Nora and her husband, Sean Conroy, vice president at Grosvenor Capital Management.
  
  
  Records further show that Daley’s family trust provided a mortgage of $739,557 to the buyers.
  
  
  The former mayor and his late wife, Maggie, bought the four-level unit in 1993 for $410,000 from MCL Cos., the developer of the project in the Central Station complex.

A profit of $340,000 during the worst housing downturn in history. And sold to a Daley with a mortgage from the Daley family trust. 

Huh?

Must be some accounting trick we never heard of.

Fair Market Value

This was a long time coming....but they ought to triple the price reduction:

• The Cubs said Tuesday their overall average ticket price will decrease by 2 percent in 2013, most of which stems from a 10 percent reduction in the average price of a bleacher ticket.
  
  After a 101-loss season in which they drew more than 2.6 million fans, the Cubs had to determine whether prices needed to be reduced drastically, or if fans still would flock to Wrigley Field in 2013 no matter the price .

2.6 million people spending how many billions in a ballpark rated below most stairwells in the Robert Taylor Homes.

Riot Preparations?

All we've seen so far is the cancellation of elective time from 05 November to 07 November.  No word on increased street presence, maybe some refresher training, changes in start times or 12-hour shifts.

Remember though - only one side is threatening to riot if things go south for their candidate:

• Despite the issue receiving national media attention, Obama supporters continue to threaten to riot if Mitt Romney wins the presidential election, raising the prospect of civil unrest if Obama fails to secure a second term.
  
  
  The new threats continue to dominate Twitter and the vast majority make no reference to press coverage of the issue over the last week, illustrating the fact that they are a legitimate expression of how many Obama voters plan to respond if Romney comes out on top, and not merely a reaction to media hype.

Has anyone seen any sort of plan yet? Or is this another, "Keep em in the dark" moment?  We're under 30 days out now.

UPDATE: Some people have problems with the source - infowars.com.  Maybe this one will make them happier:

• The threats have gone viral on Twitter, with Obama supporters retweeting and pledging their arms to riot in the streets if he is not reelected. The volume of viral traffic on the network suggests the threat is genuine. 
  
  Multiple media outlets have picked up this story and are bringing the topic to national attention. The Obama administration, which we would hope would move to quell the threat, will at best make a late-coming, half-hearted plea for people to stay home rather than destroy their own neighborhoods, if they say anything at all. 

Public Blames Politicians

This is good news at least:

• Illinois voters overwhelmingly blame politicians for creating the state's public employee pension mess, but like elected officials, they're divided about plans to fix the problem, a new Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
  
  The survey also found that Downstate and suburban residents oppose a major push by Democrats including Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn to gradually shift the costs of teacher retirement benefits on to local school districts outside Chicago.
  
  The issue of public employee pensions is a significant one for Illinois as well as for Chicago and the suburbs. The state has the largest unfunded pension liability in the nation, at least $83 billion. The practical effect: Ratings agencies downgraded the state's creditworthiness because of lawmakers' failure to address the problem, including a do-nothing special legislative session in August. It could cost the state more to borrow money.

If Illinois was a low-tax, business friendly state, a broader tax base would enable gradual reformation and a less painful bite at existing tax revenues. Of course, expecting Illinois politicians to make choices to cut entitlement programs and take a smaller slice of the corruption pie for a decade or two might be too much to ask.

FOP Endorsements

We went over to their page and this appears to be true:

• So let me get this straight, Mikey Sellout Shields and Dan I hide under my desk Gorman endorse Martwick a Son of a Democrat machine operative from NORRIDGE to rep Jeff Park over a Chicago Cop in the primary. NOW, They don't endorse him in the general. You two are really stupid. 

So Martwick isn't good enough to get an endorsement in the general election,  but if he's running against a Chicago cop, he gets the endorsement lest she win and throw a wrench into Machine operations?  Are we getting this right?

Someone want to explain?  And don't fall back on her allegedly poor performance before the political action committee or whatever they are - we want to know why the FOP isn't backing their choice all the way to the swearing in ceremony.  Because if our reps aren't there when they take the oath of office, there's no way they're taking our calls when legislation is up.

And why the fuck are we endorsing Anita Alvarez again?

Teachers Union Says "No" to 49

Here's the text from their mailing to their membership:

VOTE NO to "Proposed Amendment to the 1970 Illinois Constitution" on November 6th.

The first choice you'll make on your ballot this year will directly impact your pension.

VOTE NO!

If approved the "Proposed Amendment to the 1970 Illinois Constitution" will require a three-fifths vote of the legislature to improve pension and retirement benefits for teachers, higher education professionals and all public employees in state agencies.

Here is why you should vote no:

1. The pension debt is a problem, but this amendment will not solve it. The debt was created by the state's failure to pay into the retirement systems, as required by law. The proposed amendment does nothing to guarantee that Illnois meets its obligations.

2. The proposed amendment would strip you of many collective bargaining rights. The amendment will make the fight to secure fair contracts much more difficult for workers and responsible employers.

3. The amendment creates more obstacles to fixing the unfair "Tier 2" pension benefits. Many fiscal experts agree that the Tier 2 benfit package must be improved to meet federal standards. The proposed amendment would it make virtually impossible to do that.

4. The proposed amendment will cost the state money. Changing the Illinois Constitution by adding this undemocratic, untested language would guarantee court challenges and costly fees for years to come.

Chicago Teachers Union urges you, your family, your colleagues and friends to vote NO to Question #1 on the ballot this November 6th.

 Spread the word.

Way to Go Jesse Jr!

Again, we repeat the First Rule of Holes - when you're in one, stop digging:

• Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been spotted out at a Washington D.C. bar two nights last week, according to Gawker.
  
  Jackson disappeared earlier this summer before it was revealed that he was staying at the Mayo Clinic while seeking treatment for bipolar disorder.
  
  According to Gawker sources, Jackson was drinking at Bier Baron Tavern on Tuesday and Wednesday nights last week. Both nights he was reportedly with different women.

We certainly hope these different women were his nurses or lawyers.  Otherwise, Sandi is not going to be happy.  She might have to actually move back to Chicago with the kids at this rate.

This is all on top of a report of JJJr misspending campaign money:

• A new federal investigation into Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s finances alleges the Illinois congressman misused campaign funds to redecorate the inside of his Washington, D.C. home.
  
  
  Three weeks before the election, the feds also are looking into whether Jackson Jr. used money from his House spending account to pay for the home decor, according to The Wall Street Journal.

So now the question becomes, who can Junior give up to save his ass?  

We have a wish list by the way.

Wag the Dog! Wag the Dog!

Peeking in at the national scene, President Sparklefarts is readying a strike in Libya or surrounding countries:

• The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali — if investigators can find the Al Qaeda-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.
  
  But officials say the administration, with weeks until the presidential election, is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on Al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight it in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.
  
  Details on the administration's position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly.

Funny how they've been silent about the slaughter of the Ambassador to Libya, lying that it was a "reaction" to a YouTube video instead of a terrorist attack, but now it's all about showing the Middle East we mean business.

Thoughts and prayers to all of our military serving overseas.

Shooter Charged

Uptown Update has a post up about the juvenile piece of crap charged with shooting up an unmarked car and attempting the murder the cops within:

• Unreal. Not old enough to vote, or buy cigarettes or booze, and just barely old enough to drive. In fact, he was breaking curfew.
  
  And now he's facing two counts of the attempted murder by shooting up a police car Friday night. Well, he achieved legal maturity in at least one way: he's been charged as an adult.

They also have links up to jagoff's Facebook page - pictures that make it hard for the apologists to make an argument he was just about to turn his life around.

Wrong Numbers?

Once again, the media is running with numbers (2 to 4 dead, 24 shot) that don't seem to track with actual events:

• Woke up to 27 messages about shootings on the blackberry this am. Crime is down!
  
  As did I. But if you count the numbers several shootings had multiple victims. In 024 one of the shootings had three victims. In 003 two got shot one dead. I think another shooting had two shot but not sure where it was at. It was wild last night and even into the early morning. Since 5pm last night There were about 30 shot in the city and 2 dead. One or two others are still hanging on but are in critical condition...

And an update:

• sorry, I was wrong. I just added up the total number off my blackberry and the total number of people shot from Saturday 0000hrs and Sunday 0600hrs was 31 total shot.. of those 31 two were dead. Thats 31 total shot in 30 hours. Just a little more than one per hour... not bad.

It sure would be nice to get an actual count one of these days.  Crime is down?  Not even close.

Another Study Group

In addition to the Berstein Study Group, this one popped up:

• Just wondering if you could help inform people of a Sgts exam study group there is a free information session held at Whitney Young High School on 18 Oct 2012 at 18:00 hrs and another on 20 Oct 2012 at 20:00 hrs.
  
  www.cpdtestprep.com  312-373-0340.
  We wish to make this available to all as seats are limited...

And edge you can get is a good idea.

Here a Tax, There a Tax

Everywhere a Tax, Tax:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is considering a new tax on every slot machine and video poker game in the county as she puts the final touches on the budget proposal she will present Thursday, aides said.
  
  Owners of gambling devices would be required to buy an $800 sticker to place on each machine. Next year, the tax could generate a bit more than $1 million, a relatively small sum in comparison to the $115 million hole Preckwinkle must plug to balance her budget.
  
  The slot machine tax is in keeping with the same philosophy Preckwinkle applied last week to a potential tax on guns and bullets — a way to generate money to help the county deal with problems caused by a particular product.

Yeah, and then Preckwinkle is going to be dealing with another local phenomenon - increased unemployment.  Look at the ammo tax she's proposing - the few remaining gun shops in suburban Cook County will just close up and move out. We're sure the number is under ten.  And the sporting good stores might just stop carrying ammo at all if they aren't selling it.

The tax on gaming machines is already a losing proposition when you read this other article:

• As Mayor Rahm Emanuel pursues efforts to win a cash-generating casino for Chicago, public support for a major gambling expansion in Illinois has faded, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
  
  The survey results show growing opposition to new casinos and video slots at horse racing tracks, contrasting sharply with a similar poll conducted in February. The latest poll findings also appear to show that voters back Gov. Pat Quinn's decision to veto the legislature's latest gambling expansion bill in August.
  
  Lawmakers have twice approved measures to allow five new gambling palaces for Chicago, Rockford, Danville, the south suburbs and Park City in Lake County, but Quinn has raised many concerns to block the measures.

Support for gambling to bail Illinois out of its problems has dropped to 43% and shows no signs of regaining the momentum it had a year ago.  Not good news for Rahm or Quinn.  Or connected investors like the Outfit.

Summer Body Count

For a minute, we thought it was July again:

• Four people were killed — including a teenager — and at least 12 people were wounded in separate shootings since Friday night.

And the Sun Times is already labeling it as "weekend" when everyone knows the weekend has another day to go.

Keeping Chicago Business in Indiana

Water Department truck:

Water Department workers:

Water Department plates:

Really?  We're enriching Indiana companies by what?  Leasing trucks from them?  No crooked companies in Chicago could fit the bill on this one?

Open Post

Some technical difficulties tonight - comments should be restored in short order.

Bears are off, so we know you aren't coming here for the odds.

Open post for now.

Not One, But TWO Shootings

The Street Deputy was busy last night.....what?  Oh yeah, sorry.  Got rid of those

Two shootings though:

• Chicago police shot a man who turned toward them with a gun while running early Saturday morning, according to officials, one of two overnight shooting incidents that involved officers.
  
  Police tried to stop the man they eventually shot, along with two others, while they were walking on Marquette Boulevard west of Western Avenue in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  [...] While running, the man swung his arm back, police said, while holding a 9-millimeter pistol in his hand, and police opened fire.

And up north:

• Earlier on the north side, a man shot up a police car near Sunnyside Avenue and Broadway after a brief foot pursuit, police said. Police returned fire but nobody was wounded in the exchange.
  
  Police, patrolling an area near a shooting last week, tried to stop a man they recognized who was walking with two others. Police gave chase as the wanted man and the two others split up.
  
  One of the men stopped, stepped into a combat shooting stance, and shot at the police car that was chasing him. He emptied his revolver, according to police, and continued running.
  
  When police did catch him, he quickly dropped the gun and gave up, police said.

No police hurt.  Watch yourselves.

Legitimacy Fail

This is humorous in many ways:

• There is a new strategy to tamp down the mayhem caused by gangs. ABC7 was invited along to watch Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy's gang violence reduction strategy in action. 

McTootHisOwnHorn isn't in the video, but his Kool-aid drinking lackeys are.

But the funny part is right at the end of the video:

So that entire "legitimacy" training the Department is forcing everyone to go to.... the one that says you have to treat the gang bangers with respect? That says you have to be "legitimate" in order to gain the trust of the community? Failing on a number of levels here.  

Nice try though lieutenant.  Welcome back to reality.

Only 25 Years

Probably out in 20 (if he serves 80%):

• A teenager pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a Chicago police dispatcher last year in a crash as he was being chased by officers after stealing a vehicle while intoxicated.
  
  In a deal with Cook County prosecutors, Marquis Harrison, 18, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder in the death of Marciea Adkins, 42.
  
  Authorities said Harrison had just left a party at about 6 a.m. on July 10, 2011, and was high on Ecstasy, marijuana and vodka when he saw a motorist leave his idling Range Rover in the 100 block of West North Avenue to pay a parking meter.
  
  Harrison jumped into the vehicle and sped off, prosecutors said. A police officer pulled the SUV over after seeing its driver run a red light at Blackhawk Street and Elston Avenue, but during the traffic stop, Harrison allegedly backed into the officer's squad car and almost struck two other officers. 

Supposedly, he faced 40 years.

JJJr in More Trouble

Looks like he didn't follow Dad's footsteps exactly:

• The snowballing troubles of Jesse Jackson Jr. took a new turn Friday with the revelation that federal investigators have launched a probe into “suspicious activity” in the South Shore congessman’s finances.
  
  Focusing on a completely new area of scrutiny for the son of the famed civil rights leader, the investigation is not related to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attempted sale of a U.S. Senate seat, a scandal that has ensnared Jackson in the past, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
  
  Rather, the probe — based in the Washington, D.C., FBI field office —is focusing on “suspicious activity” involving the congressman’s finances related to his House seat and the possibility of inappropriate expenditures, the sources said.

And he'll still probably win reelection in three weeks despite not having run a campaign at all.

School Chief Out

The first casualty of the Teachers Strike:

• Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean Claude Brizard is out, to be replaced permanently by the school system's chief education officer, a spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.
  
  Brizard, who has been the CEO for about 17 months, made a mutual decision with the mayor that it was best he leave the top school post, mayoral spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said.
  
  "J.C. spoke with (School Board President) David Vitale and the mayor, and said 'I'm becoming a distraction. This is becoming more about me than it is about our mission to help the kids,'" Hamilton said.

Wow, he even fell on his sword for Rahm like a good Machine servant is supposed to.  You'd think he was raised in Chicago the way he did it.  Rahm must have promised him a good letter of recommendation of something,

Karen Lewis is chuckling somewhere.

Bribe Not Big Enough

This is badly worded:

• An appeals court has reversed the bribery conviction of a Chicago zoning inspector on grounds the value of two $600 payoffs he received weren't high enough.
  
  The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago issued the ruling Thursday.
  
  Dominick Owens was arrested in 2009 for allegedly accepting $1,200 to issue certificates permitting owners to occupy their homes after construction. He allegedly issued them without inspections.
  
  His 2011 conviction stemmed from an investigation of inspectors dubbed “Operation Crooked Code.” It led to more than a dozen arrests.
  
  An FBI affidavit said Owens accepted thousands of dollars from a cooperating witness.
  
  But the court found prosecutors failed to prove the value of the bribes was $5,000 or more as required under the law used to convict Owens. 

OK, we understand the statute may have been misapplied, but "the bribe wasn't big enough" is going to lead to all sorts of confusion.

Quinn Failing...Still

Once again, the people are unhappy with their choices, when even the simplest research and paying attention would have saved them from this ass:

• Shortly after winning his first election as governor almost two years ago, Gov. Pat Quinn declared his razor-thin victory a "mandate" from voters, but a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows growing impatience with his stewardship of state government.
  
  The Democratic governor's job approval rating stands at 26 percent. The survey found that dissatisfaction with Quinn extends across all age, income and ideological groups, the suburbs and especially Downstate. African-American and city voters narrowly approved of Quinn's job performance, but even then, support did not reach a majority.
  
  The latest poll results could provide added impetus for other Democrats to consider challenging Quinn for governor in the 2014 primary, where filing begins in little more than a year. Only 4 in 10 respondents who say they are Democrats supported Quinn.

The problem isn't just Quinn - it's the entire Illinois political combine, dominated by democrats like Quinn, Madigan, Daley, etc.  They can throw any moron in the big chair, but the calcified dinosaurs running the show are still going to hamstring the process and bastardize it to enrich their connected friends. The actual reformer-outisder doesn't have a chance.  Look at the last three elections for Governor here.  It's ridiculous.

The Neighbors Did What?

Help us out here, because we're a little confused:

• Pamela Ball bit the hand that was trying to force her into the trunk of her car, but she doesn't believe that's what saved her.
  
  Ball credits the dozen neighbors who heard her screams in the alley behind her Andersonville home and chased away the two men who had just robbed a jewelry store after tying up the clerk and were planning to get away in Ball's car Monday afternoon.
  
  “There were 12 neighbors in the alley with cell phones,’’ said Ball, in her early 60s. “One neighbor even chased them and one neighbor grabbed me.’’

The neighbors called police?  They neighbors chased the suspects?  The neighbors identified the criminals to the police?

How very....unusual.  At least unusual in Chicago.  And unusual from the usual fare we hear in the media about "uncooperative" witnesses and victims who tell us "You're the police, figure it out."  It's almost like a functional segment of society doesn't want to put up with the criminals and is actually eager to see them imprisoned for their crimes instead of embraced, coddled, glorified, sheltered, and supported by a dysfunctional structure.

Too bad it isn't contagious.

More Shots Fired at Police

After wounding a few people:

• Authorities charged the South Side man they said wounded a young girl and woman over the weekend during a shooting that was witnessed by a Chicago police officer who had just ended his shift.
  
  The officer, still in uniform, pursued the vehicle from the 9900 block of South Vincennes Avenue to the 9800 block of South Throop Street just before 3:30 p.m. Sunday where one of two men fired on him, police said.
  The unidentified officer returned fire, but no one was wounded in the exchange.  

And guess what else?

• In January, [this asshole] pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer and was sentenced to probation and time served as two aggravated battery to a police officer charges were dropped, according to court records.

Imagine that - in Cook County no less.  Anita's people take the bullshit misdemeanor conviction and void out the felonies that would have put this mutt into prison for a few years.  And then he manages to try to take the life of a Chicago Police Officer and two other citizens.

Anyone writing these things down to use against Anita in a few years?

Um, What's This?

Can anyone confirm this?

• I don't know how to reach the folks in charge of this blog, but I have a good topic that will certainly shock most members of the CPD. In a time where manpower is at its lowest, violent crime at its highest and the expectations from the public and politicians of police performance is unrelenting, the repercussions on the police officer's emotional/psychological well-being are detrimental. You see, the ole Employee Assistance Program has succumbed to the ill-practices of HR Director Ladner and others in the Department. Let's start with an Officer seeking psychological help voluntarily and is then placed on medication to help with whatever the issue may be: PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Grief, et al. Common sense and a caring Department would say, "Well done officer for being strong enough to seek the help and carry on honorably with your profession". Hell no!! What happens is that the Department's Medical Section will dig in to find out if the Officer is taking what they call "Psychotropic Meds" like Ambien, Effexor, Prozac, and a plethora of other anti-anxiety/anti-depression meds. This dead is done by the MSS's nurses who will, upon receipt of a letter or prescription from a Doctor or Psychiatrist, call the Personnel Concerns folks at HR's new Performance Management Section, who will then sit the Officer down in their office, tell them that they are there to help (While asking the officer for their ID, Badge and Shield), read them some form that in essence sounds like "Miranda Rights", force you on the medical, and escort you in and out of their office with a "visitor's" badge around the officers neck. Really?? This is how the Department is "Helping" its officers in a time of emotional/psychological need?? Hitler treated his troops better than that!! This needs to be put out there for all to see....Fuck Ladner and her anti-police/psychological warfare against our officers. The time to change this shit is NOW. What about all the Officers coming back from the war zones with PTSD who are being treated by the VA?? Guess what, if the Dept's Medical Services Section finds out that they are on medication, they get stripped too. That is a crying shame!!

This would appear to violate a few long standing practices, certain contractual protections, the spirit of the EAP Program and maybe a HIPAA rule or two.  We say "appear" since we have no direct knowledge, only this comment.  Can anyone provide further info?  Has anyone contacted the FOP with this issue?

Fun Time

Caption this picture:

"You smell great!"

Lambert Tree Winner

The narrative from the Tribune site:

• Chicago Police Officer Joseph Lopez accepts the Lambert Tree Award from Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, left, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The award is given out for bravery in the line of duty. Lopez, an 8-year veteran, responded to a call of shots fired. Upon arrival, a witness told Lopez the subject fled in a SUV. Lopez located the parked vehicle several minutes later. As he approached, the rear passenger door opened and a male subject fled.
  
  Lopez pursued the subject to a residential parking lot, where the subject turned toward Lopez, pointing and firing a semi-automatic handgun at him three times. Fearing for his life, Lopez aimed his weapon at the subject, but did not return fire as he was concerned additional gunfire would endanger citizens near the scene. The foot pursuit continued to a rear gangway and up some stairs.
  
  The subject, realizing he had nowhere to go, walked down the stairs, coming face-to-face with Lopez. At that point the subject pointed his handgun at the officer. Fearing for his life, Lopez discharged his duty weapon one time, fatally striking the subject. The subject's weapon, a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun, fell to the ground but was recovered immediately.

A job very well done Officer. Congratulations.

Hire 500?

Which is under what aldercreatures wanted:

• The Chicago Police Department will hire 500 police officers in 2013 and hold two police exams — one for new officers, the other for sergeants, aldermen were told Tuesday.
  
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to hire 125 officers-per-quarter was not enough to satisfy aldermen convinced Chicago needs at least 1,000 new officers to ease a manpower shortage they contend has hamstrung the city’s ability to stop a 25 percent surge in homicides and a nine percent increase in shootings.
  
  
  They were not appeased by the argument made by the mayor’s budget team that Chicago already has more police officers-per-capita than any other major city and that it’s the first time since 2006 that the city has hired enough officers to keep pace with retirements for two straight years.

Kept pace with hiring? What a bunch of crap.  Do we have to go over the FOP Newswletters again counting retirees?  Then pull up the personnel rosters and count hires by year?  And point out (as an aldercreature did) that 1,400 vacancies were eliminated on paper with the stroke of a pen?

Rahm's Budget is OK!

Everything is hunky dory - especially if you can use imaginary money!

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to offer a good-news budget to City Council on Wednesday that would siphon money from special taxing districts and rely on predictions of an improving economy to balance the books, aldermen said.
  
  But while Emanuel has already said he will not raise taxes, fees or fines, the details of how he will do more with less pain were lacking in the PowerPoint presentation Budget Director Alexandra Holt made to aldermen Tuesday.

Here's where the funny-money comes in:

• This time around, Emanuel has indicated he will rely more heavily on rosier revenue projections tied to a better economy. The administration is predicting $45 million in revenue growth from its share of the state income tax and collections of real estate transfer, retail sales and hotel taxes. It is also counting on $69.2 million in higher debt collections this year, along with a projected $24 million increase next year, to close a budget hole most recently estimated at $298 million.
  
  Aldermen were shown plans to siphon off $10 million for the city from tax increment finance districts, or TIFs — in which property taxes paid to local governments are frozen for up to 23 years, with any extra collections being used at the city's discretion as a way to spur development and create jobs.
  
  To do that, the mayor plans to declare $25 million in 22 TIF funds as surplus. Of that, $5 million would go to the city, with the rest going to other taxing agencies, primarily Chicago Public Schools. He would get another $5 million from TIF accounts that have expired or that he plans to close.
  

There's a whole lot of "projections," "predicting" and "counting on" in that budget. 

North Side Tragedy

A nightmare scenario:

• A retired Chicago homicide detective shot and killed his son after mistaking him for an intruder in his Northwest Side apartment early this morning, according to police and family.
  
  Michael Griffin, 48, was found shot once in the head a little after midnight in his father’s home in the 5300 block of North Delphia Avenue, police said.
  
  An autopsy performed today found Griffin died of a gunshot wound to the face and his death was declared a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
  
  The father, James Griffin, 77, was taken to Resurrection Hospital after complaining of chest pains, relatives said. No charges have been announced by police.

Thoughts and prayers for the family.

Security? What Security?

You can see what proper police station security looks like in the 'burbs where you have to be buzzed into a secure waiting area and then you still talk to the police through bulletproof glass.  No so in Chicago where the disease ridden homeless gather and spread lord knows what airborne pathogens to officers and citizens alike.

A few years back following the teenage police impersonator incident, J-Fled commissioned the Secret Service to evaluate station security of Chicago Police Stations and come up with a plan to make them a bit more airtight than usual. Most stations, if not all, got keypad security doors that work about 50% of the time and did nothing to address lobby security.

The culmination of these security evaluations comes to us from an Area North district.  It seems that citizens are permitted to use a set of bathrooms off of the lobby and the iron fence meant to restrict access is opened so people can avail themselves of the facilities.  Guess what happened?

Yup, someone took a wrench, turned off the water service and stole the plumbing and fittings, rendering the bathroom unusable.  A police station that is supposed to be a "secure" facility.  Anyone else wondering what the city did with J-Fled's evaluation?

Enter At Your Own Risk

This is a hell of a jab at the Detroit politicos:

• The Detroit Police Officers Association is warning citizens and out-of-towners that they enter Detroit at their own risk, saying that the "grossly understaffed" and overworked police force cannot adequately protect the public in the increasingly violent city.
  
  “Detroit is America’s most violent city, its homicide rate is the highest in the country and yet the Detroit Police Department is grossly understaffed,” DPOA Attorney Donato Iorio told WWJ over the weekend. “The DPOA believes that there is a war in Detroit, but there should be a war on crime, not a war on its officers.”

Not only that, but they're handing out informational fliers to fans attending playoff games: 

Imagine handing these out on Michigan Avenue or near the 018 District tourist areas. Rahm's head would explode.

Quick Response, Multiple Arrests

Very nice job up north:

• Employees were bound inside a jewelry store during a jewelry heist in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side.
  
  Police were back on the scene around 4 p.m. Monday continuing to investigate at the Bryn Mawr Jewelry Company. They were trying to talk to more witnesses and collect whatever other evidence they might be able to find on the scene on W. Bryn Mawr.
  
  It was quick police work; the robbery happened about 1 p.m., and by 3 p.m., two suspects were in custody. Investigators were questioning the suspects Monday evening. 

Proceeds recovered, two in custody.  Not a bad afternoon work.

Bloody Weekend

Every time we turned around, someone was getting shot or run over:

• Two people were struck by a hit-and-run driver after a fight outside a River North neighborhood bar early Sunday morning, police said.

We're betting on the loser of the fight being involved.

• A man was killed and two teens were injured in a shooting inside a Back of the Yards neighborhood park on Saturday afternoon, police said.
  
  Someone got out of a maroon van and opened fire, police said, hitting the three who were standing together inside Davis Square Park at 4430 S. Marshfield Avenue about 12:53 p.m.

Solution to the above? Ban parks!

• Adult siblings, a man and a woman, were shot outside their mother's house after she broke up a party Saturday night in the Marquette Park neighborhood, according to police.
  
  [...] About 90 minutes later a 23-year-old woman was shot in the 2700 block of West 62nd Street, also on the Southwest Side in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood. She was the passenger in a car that someone approached and fired into, police said.

The south side mayhem continues:

• Five people, including a 13-year-old girl, were injured after being shot in separate shootings on the far South Side this afternoon, police said.

And this wasn't a warm summer weekend either.  Fall is looking ugly if this is a preview.

Get a Load of This

Rahm is making a bunch of unheard of reforms:

• Chicago will trim more older trees, plant more new trees and bolster rodent-control services in response to a rat population surge, thanks to $3.2 million in new spending tied to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2013 budget.
  
  
  By hiring the equivalent of 41 full-time employees, Emanuel hopes to respond to 20,000 additional tree-trimming requests, reducing a backlog that was 18 months long when he took office.
  
  
  “We are [still] behind. But, we have knocked that down dramatically ... We are less behind from what we inherited,” the mayor said.

That must be a "decrease in the increase" that McJerseyShore was talking about on the police side - nice to see Rahm is picking up the lingo. Or did Rahm pioneer it and McCopyCat is parroting the master?

• Laborer’s Union Local 1001 won the citywide tree-trimming competition by bidding $1.4 million, nearly half the $2.7 million bid by the cheapest private sector company.
  
  Local 1001 won the right to keep its forestry jobs — and gain 41 members — with help from a series of work-rule changes ironed out in May.
  
  
  The deal allowed newly hired Streets and Sanitation employees to be paid at an hourly rate of $20 — $13 lower than the current rate of pay — and be cross-trained in other jobs so they can be moved freely among those jobs based on the city’s needs.
  
  
  Instead of six months, those new hires now have a four-year probationary period. And instead of pre-negotiated pay hikes, they get raises based on hours worked.

The union "bid" for its work?  That's interesting.  And at a rate nearly 30% under other Laborers.  And a four-year probationary period.  And pay raises based on hours worked.  

Looks like Rahm got a bunch of indentured servants that he can mess with via bean counting, micro managing and work rule changes.  Better hope this isn't catching.

Bears Manhandle Jax

So what was the deal with the first half?  Three to three?  Are they luring the NFC into a false sense of mediocrity?

Clearance Rate

Any detective or bean counter want to comment on the rumor that the clearance rate for homicides has dipped below 20%?  Is that why they're about to make a class of Detectives for the first time in almost 6 years?

Who Got What Spot Now?

What the heck is all this about?

• Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation will keep additional workers to fight rats and get more tree trimmers under Mayor Rahm Emanuel's 2013 budget.
  
  The agency, with main responsibilities of clearing snow off the streets and collecting garbage from the alleys, is also getting a new commissioner, former deputy Police Supt. Charles Williams, the mayor’s office announced Saturday.

Charlie Williams?  Long time readers of the blog will remember Williams spent most of his career fucking over coppers at IAD.  If we remember correctly, he also told people after one scandal that if he could have sent an involved supervisor (who lived at one end of the city) farther from home than he did (to the other end of the city), he would have, even though the supervisor never faced charges - Charlie just wanted to fuck someone over.

This complete ineptness during his Police Department days translates into being able to run Streets and Sanitation how exactly?  We can't see anything in his background that would justify his getting a police pension of some $100,000-plus in addition to a S&S Commissioner six-figure salary.

And if that isn't enough, you have this, too:

• Williams will replace Thomas Byrne, a Mayor Richard Daley appointee who has been asking out of the high pressure position at Streets and Sanitation since shortly after Emanuel took office.
  
  “I'm just tired,” Byrne said. “I'm 64 years old, and winters are tough.”
  
  Byrne will help Williams transition in, take some time off and then take over as head of security at the Chicago Park District.

Wow.  One city job to another to another.  How do the pension funds support these multiple dippers?  It's amazing that it works out like this for the chosen few.

"Merit" Nominations

This time for Detective?  But they haven't made detectives in what, six years?  The manpower shortage must have been solved!

Now let's see if they grant any Time Due.

Bears by 5.5

After last week's showing, we're more confident backing the Bears.  If they can maintain the same level of intensity and focus, 5.5 is easily covered, regardless of whether Cutler whines or not.

Superintendent in Waiting

Evidently, the nationwide search for a new Superintendent got us not only McCompStat, but a replacement as well:

• A couple of weeks ago I over heard this person say that he would be the next Supe when McCarthy left. Not knowing who he was I inquired and was told his name is Bob Tracy, McCarthy's right hand guy. He says he moved here from New York with his family being promised to be the next Super. Wow how do these outsiders have so much control over Chicago politics that he knows already that it is his spot after McCarthy is gone. Don't know anything about the man but this is not good for the next Supe to know he has the spot hands down. 

Nice to know the CPD is still stealing from NYPD.  No great thinkers coming up from our own ranks it seems.

Schools Make Cuts

In order to pay for the negotiated raises, they finally found fat to trim:

• Chicago Public Schools said Friday it will pay for this year’s teacher raises by reducing central office spending and restructuring debt, making no mention of closing any schools.
  
  
  The contract deal, ratified this week by Chicago Teachers Union members, added $103 million to the current school year’s budget, district officials said. Among the planned savings are curbing $4 million in professional memberships and subscriptions, leaving $8 million in non-teacher openings vacant, selling $15 million in surplus property and restructuring debt for another $42 million.

So if all this was known prior to the strike, why wasn't it done to avoid missing 8 days of school?  Oh yeah, Rahm needed a strike in order to break the CTU, but failed miserably and ended up spending how many millions on TV ads that claim he "won" some great battle with the teachers.  Major backfire there.

CA 49 Article

Only the suburban papers are writing anything about this Constitutional Amendment:

• There’s nothing I enjoy more than seeing elected officials admit they can’t be trusted.
  
  
  And that’s pretty much what Illinois legislators have done by placing a constitutional amendment on the November election ballot.
  
  
  The amendment, if passed, would require a three-fifths vote of each chamber of the Legislature (House and Senate) to pass an increase in pension benefits for public employees.
  
  
  The measure not only would effect the Legislature but all other government bodies in Illinois (counties, townships, municipalities, school districts, etc.).
  
  
  If a municipality wants to increase employee pension benefits as part of a labor agreement, 60 percent of its city council or village board would have to agree.

So this is pretty much an act of cowardice on the part of the legislature to further insulate them from having to make any sort of difficult decisions.  They can always claim "we needed 60% of the chamber to pass anything," and then hide behind everyone else's inaction.  What a group of assholes.

Duh

Masters of the Obvious here:

• The head of a government watchdog group says Chicago aldermen and others aren’t doing enough to help end the city’s growing pension crisis.
  
  Lawrence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, says he was surprised that City Council members, during their day of pension hearings this week, said it’s only state lawmakers who can help lower the city’s $17 billion in unfunded pensions.
  
  Msall says the city could increase its pension contributions as one way to reduce the liability.
  
  He says there is no one advocating for that in Springfield.

No shit Larry - that would mean having to cut a whole lot of entitlement spending that gets democratic politicians reelected.  And raising taxes isn't very popular either.  No wonder the aldercreatures claim only the state lawmakers can save them from this disaster - the same state lawmakers that have Illinois in hock to the tune of $88 billion or so.

Physics Wins Again (UPDATES)

Biker versus semi-tractor flatbed:

• Neill Townsend biked to work most days, in all kinds of weather, and almost always had a story to share about a close call on the street.
  
  “He would tell us about them,’’ said Scott Wilson, CEO of Minimal Inc., a product design firm where Townsend worked. “He did have a lot of close calls with cars or even other cyclists. It’s not a bike-friendly city, unfortunately."
  
  Friday morning, the 32-year-old attorney was riding south on Wells Street in front of Walter Payton High School, just north of Oak Street, when the driver of a Nissan Altima swung open the door, police said.
  
  Townsend swerved and fell underneath the wheels of a passing semi that was hauling a flat-bed trailer, police said.  

Someone with "a lot of close calls" is either a (A) shit magnet or (B) a problem biker.  Knowing bicyclists as we do, we're going to guess B.  And we're also going to guess that Rahm or his minions use this death as justification for the 600 miles of bike lanes (at $140,000 per mile) that are currently choking traffic, commerce and emergency response times across the entire city.

UPDATE: Sometimes we don't even know why we bother to point things out to the ignorant assholes that "read" here.  To all of the reading challenged morons, could you point out where we wish death on any cyclist, make fun of the dead guy, anything like that?  Because we're missing it.

We rightfully point out that a person versus a multiple-ton vehicle isn't exactly a fair fight.  We quote a news article.  We venture the opinion that, based on our experience as a motorist, bicyclist and observer of human behavior, that the likely causes of the accident are two-fold, the second being the most likely one BASED ON OUR EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS.  Then we point out that Rahm "Don't Let a Crisis Go to Waste" Emanuel and his ilk are likely to play this a certain way.  What's the problem?

In 30-plus years of biking, from big wheels, to ten-speeds to mountain bikes, we can barely recall instances of bikes coming to complete stops at signs or traffic lights, ourselves included.  It just isn't drilled into people here.  It's part of why we stopped street biking years ago.  And the so-called "bike lanes" seem to play into the immunity bikers feel from the laws of physics, traffic law and general polite behavior on the roads.

Stop attributing words, thoughts or deeds that were never posted by us to us.  As for the comments, one half bitches if we let something through, the other half bitches if we censor something.  Can't have it both ways. So direct your stupidity at the proper target.  Asshats.

UPDATE II: Ridiculed what asshat?  We still don't see it and you're still an ignorant reading challenged  moron.  A judgement call based on years of experience isn't ridiculing anything.

Murders Still Up 25%

As McOutOfTown gives a speech at the ICAP conferences about how he single-handedly introduced police work to Chicago, USA Today does a front page spread on the Chicago bloodbath:

• Driven by gangs, drugs and guns, the bloodshed in President Obama's adopted hometown has resulted in a body count that exceeds the 312 murders this year in New York and 212 in Los Angeles, cities with populations dwarfing that of the Windy City. The toll here is up 25% from 2011: 391 through Sept. 23.
  
  Last week, two men who had been beaten to death were found in the trunk of a car. The same day, a 17-year-old boy and a 33-year-old man were found shot to death. Those and others to be added to the official tally push the number of homicides in Chicago through September to the 400 mark for the first time since 2003. That year, 601 murders were documented here; annual totals have been in the 400s since 2009.

This lie is still making the rounds:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy have deployed more police to the most deadly areas, sought help from federal agencies and swept up guns and drugs and the people who possessed them.

Moving around existing assets isn't "deploy[ing]" - it's shuffling the deck. The rest of the article is a mish-mash of "reverends," some "former" gang bangers and a bunch of smoke-generating that solves nothing.

Nice Job Officer

Still chasing them down:

• Some people start work early, some people start work late -- and this week Chicago Police Officer John Wrigley did both at the same time.
  
  The 43-year-old off-duty officer was getting ready for work Wednesday afternoon when he heard the screams of a woman being robbed and ran after the 15-year-old crook, arresting him in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.
  
• The teen was released on electronic monitoring and is expected in court on Oct. 29 on the charges, Conklin said.
  
  Officer Wrigley, who was shot in the line of duty in 2005, was given multiple awards for valor for the incident, including Officer of the Month, he said.

Nicely done Officer.

Don't Expect a Quick Fix

Since it has only been a hundred years or so since they won anything:

• The Chicago Cubs' 101-loss season is over, and it definitely was one for the books.
  
  In a post-mortem in the media room known as the “dungeon” Thursday, baseball president Theo Epstein conceded the Cubs “buried ourselves right out of the chute and didn’t have the talent to overcome that.”
  
• “There’s no getting around the fact that as far as the ultimate return on investment for the fans’ dollar, which is seeing a winning team, they going to get better value down the road than they’re getting right now,” he said. “It’s our job to make sure the debt value, and experience of watching a baseball team down the stretch and into October and celebrating with that team is priceless, and that’s ultimately how we can reward the fans’ support.”

Wow. That's some unmitigated bullshit all right.

How about trying this on for size northsiders - stop going to games.  Stop buying Cubs stuff.  Spend your money somewhere else.  When the Blackhawks sucked, and they sucked for a long time under Old Man Wirtz, a lot of people stopped going to games, refusing to spend top dollar on a half-assed product.  Wirtz had to die and leave the team to his son for them to turn it around, win a Stanley Cup and make the tickets worth something again. 

The Bears spent some god-awful years in the wilderness before fielding a decent product and history appears to be repeating itself over by the lake.  The Bulls, too. The Sox seem to defy conventional wisdom for some reason - can't quite figure that one out.

CFD West Nile Death

Our condolences to the Fire side:

• A Chicago Fire Department lieutenant became a victim of West Nile Virus Thursday night, two weeks after he was bitten by a mosquito in Wisconsin.
  
  
  Lt. Thomas Flahive of Engine Co. 108 died from the virus. He was 58.
  
  
  Flahive contracted the virus during a family trip to Wisconsin, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said.
  
  
  After being bit, the lieutenant started suffering from flu-like symptoms and went for treatment, Langford said.
  
  
  The lieutenant was diagnosed with West Nile Virus and later went into a coma and suffered irreversible brain damage, Langford said.

Condolences only for the family here.

Exhibit B

Evidently, this is where it all started:

The comments have been running hot and heavy over "dogs" versus "legitimate thought out reasons."  And while a "job action" cannot be advocated and is grounds for dismissal, it seems more and more obvious that the one-way attitude prevalent among the upper ranks of the Department has more than a little to do with the negative number push-back from the boys and girls at the bottom.

Someone sent us this as a useful tool: Contact Cards.rtf

Have fun with it.

ANOV Time?

The pilot admits it was pretty much happenstance they stumbled on it, but a good job recognizing it for what it was:

• The lush crop of pale green plants growing in neat rows on the far South Side was, by one estimate, just days from being ready to harvest.
  
  
  Unfortunately for the grower, Chicago Police got there first — and spent Wednesday hacking away at what’s thought to be among the city’s largest marijuana operations discovered growing outdoors.
  
  
  The crop, spotted by a Cook County sheriff’s officer on a routine helicopter patrol Tuesday, might be worth as much as $10 million on the street, police said.

$10 million? Cut it, dry it, package it, sell it, fund the Helicopter Unit.

Rahm's All Ethical Now

Thank goodness for ethical people:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday dumped Chicago’s entire Board of Ethics to prepare for the new role envisioned by his Ethics Reform Task Force: as powerful judge and jury punishing violators of the city’s ethics ordinance.
  
  
  “I wanted to start with a new energy and a new commitment by a totally new board — all of ’em with the type of professionalism and commitment to raising the ethical standards, conduct and oversight in city government,” Emanuel said.
  
  
  “With these reforms ... residents have a clear view of what they pay for, and elected officials have a clear view of who they work for,” he said.
  
  
  The mayoral house-cleaning would replace all seven members of a Board of Ethics famous for never having taken action against a Chicago alderman during an era when dozens went to jail on federal corruption charges.

Funny, we don't recall him being so "ethical" when he was pulling in his $11-million-plus payday doing little to no work for a connected power company scheduling meetings and such.  But people can change, right?

CA 49

The major papers and TV stations seem to ignore the upcoming ballot referendum over CA 49, aka “HCA49” and “HJRCA49."  We got the entire text in a mailing today addressed to "voter."  We've also gotten a few e-mails by organizations purporting to support the amendment.

The FOP has recommended a "No" vote and we concur.

Get registered and get to the voting booth.  Last day of registration is 09 October and most Districts/Units have someone who can register you or update a lapsed registration.

UPDATE: Here's the only article we've seen so far about this legislation.

Debates

Would this be a good time to mention that Romney completely owned Obama at the debate last night?  Even MSNBC can't be bothered to pretend that this wasn't a complete disaster for President Sparklefarts.

Exhibit A

Interesting:

Granted, it's from the 004 District Desk computer, so anyone could have sent it without Patterson's knowledge.  But still, it's indicative that quota-based policing still holds some sway over certain segments of this Department.

New Cars

Made in Chicago:

• It has cool rims, a powerful V6 engine, a gun vault in the trunk and bullet-proof front doors.
  
  [...]  Otherwise known as the Police Interceptor, the vehicle is produced at the Ford Assembly Plant on Chicago's Far South Side. Since production began in January, police departments across the country have placed orders for 15,500 Interceptors, which comes in both sedan and sports utility versions, Teed said. Canadian law enforcement agencies have placed about 800 orders.
  
  Thanks to the orders, Ford added 1,200 jobs, roughly doubling employment, in May at the assembly plant. The Interceptors are replacing the Crown Victoria, which have been used by law enforcement for about two decades. Production of that model ended last year.

 We don't understand this part though:

• Chicago has ordered 185 Interceptors,  including 132 of the sport utility vehicles and 53 sedans. They are expected to hit the streets in November and early next year. In total, the city plans to purchase 500 Police Interceptors at a cost of at least $15 million over five years.

We thought the SUV experiment was deemed a failure?  And only 53 sedans?  Are these going to the exempt staff or something?  It's early in the contract so maybe they'll buy more the sedans on the back end?

Go Cubs

The ball club isn't the only embarrassment it seems:

• Finally, the Cubs can say they’re No. 1.
  
  Our lovable losers have gained the distinction of having MLB’s least clean park, as voted by ufe.com, an upstart website that stands for “urine feces everywhere."
  
  The ratings are the brainchild of Bourbonnais dentist John Vallone, who — along with his wife and six others — rated every major-league park based on 79 health-related criteria. Much of their focus was on rest-room hygiene. 

The Cubs are going for loss number 101 tonight.  Best of luck to them.

Sox finished ahead of where everyone picked them to end up, and still can't fill their park.

And the NHL continues to dig its own grave.

Pension Board Opening

In the October FOP Newsletter, some guy announces he won't be running for Pension Board Rep again:

• On a more personal note, I wanted to inform each of you that I have chosen not to run for re-election as a Pension Board Trustee. This was not an easy decision as I really have enjoyed working for you at the Pension Fund. I have seen first-hand the effect our Trustees have, and I was incredibly honored to serve in that capacity. Litigation against our Pension Board has dropped by about seventy-five percent during my term in office. I would like to think it is because we are on the right track. Likewise, the elected officers of the Board have become more unified and are a force to be reckoned with when dealing with the Mayor’s appointed Trustees.

Quite frankly, it was obvious to most observers that attempting to handle both jobs was something beyond the capacity of one human being, and as a result, both offices have suffered.  The petty jealousies and politicking have diminished the offices and led to weakness and poor communication where strength and unity of purpose would have been a better tact.

Hopefully, a strong and independent candidate will come forward for the coming battles.

Can We Grant Their Wish?

So simple:

• Gangbangers in Chicago: What makes them tick, what are they thinking?
  
  CBS 2’s Walter Jacobson sat down with gang members in Chicago’s troubled Englewood neighborhood to try to find some answers.
  
  Some of the responses he received were not encouraging.
  
  “There’s no solution to the violence,” one gang member tells him. “Killing, killing is the solution.”

Time to pull out of the hood and let them sort it out themselves.  We can declare a truce every other day to clean up the bodies. And that's if we're feeling generous:

• The gang members also said they are at war with the Chicago Police Department.
  
  “The police hate us,” a young man said. “Every time they ride past us, they shoot us down and do all that. Do what you want to do, I don’t care about you all, keep riding. Who are you all? We’re not scare of you all. I’ll fight you too. Take that badge off.”
  
  But he says the police cannot catch them or exact any consequences.
  

Why pour good money down a rat hole that doesn't want a police presence as it is? We'd give it two weeks, a month tops before it sorted itself out into something the Department could manage again.

It would certainly be an interesting month at the CompStat meetings.

Business in Chicago

Nice to see things haven't changed:

• Ten years ago, Chicago’s most powerful alderman, Edward M. Burke, and the rest of the City Council signed off on a deal that promised $16 million in taxpayer subsidies to the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. to help it build a new corporate campus on Goose Island rather than move to the suburbs.
  
  Three years later, Burke’s law firm, retained by Wrigley, persuaded Cook County officials to lower the property assessments for two buildings the chewing gum giant had bought down the street from the new campus.
  
  Burke’s legal work helped Wrigley cut its property taxes by more than $412,000 between 2006 and 2008, records show.
  
  For that, the company says, it paid the alderman about $90,000 in legal fees.

And the topper?

• Wrigley has never finished the project, though.  

Hey Rahm, how about you go after these missing millions?

Pension Amendment

A proposal on the November ballot appears to be an attempt to circumvent the Illinois Constitution as written:

• Amendment 49 on the November ballot in Illinois is cleverly drafted to concentrate more monetary power in the same Springfield legislative leaders who have de facto bankrupted the Illinois Treasury. With $83 billion in projected liabilities, Illinois has the nation’s largest state budget crisis.
  
  Amendment 49 is crafted to strip local governments and voters of current decision-making prerogatives and transfer those decisions to Springfield.
  
  Among other subterfuges, Amendment 49 overrules and destroys the Illinois Constitutional protection against eliminating or reducing earned benefits, such as pensions for state retirees who by state law cannot receive Social Security and, in many instances, cannot receive Medicaid. 

This is where the big problem appears to be:

• For example, hidden in the “last sentence” is the new constitutional provision: “(d) Nothing in this Section shall prevent the passage or adoption of any law, ordinance, resolution, rule, policy or practice that further restricts the ability to provide a ‘benefit increase,’ ‘emolument increase,’ or ‘beneficial determination’ as those terms are used under this Section.”
  
  Thus, Amendment 49 overrules the current Constitutional safeguard known as the “non-impairment provision” in Article XIII, sec. 5, of the Illinois Constitution.

This proposal appears to have a lot of baggage attached to it, a lot of unanswered questions, and needs to be studied quickly by the unions so the impact can be judged in time for the elections that are less than 40 days away. The fact that Madigan rushed this through is enough of a reason for us to vote against it - judge accordingly.

Dallas Favored by 3.5

Take Dallas anyway. The Bears' inconsistency so far doesn't inspire confidence.

Tweet the Guns Away

Way to look like you're doing something, when in fact, you are doing nothing at all:

• The city of Chicago is asking residents with ideas on how to get illegal guns off the streets to share their thoughts – in 140 characters or fewer on Twitter.
  
  The initiative is part of Chicago Ideas Week, an annual forum for innovators, artists, scientists and others to share ideas and inspire action.
  
  Those who think they know how to cut off the flow of illegal guns into Chicago– which has strict gun control laws– are being asked to tweet suggestions with the hashtag #whatifchicago.
  
  The best submitted ideas will be debated at an Oct. 11 panel discussion.

Of course, the comments are where the entertainment lies. Most of the ones we saw encourage sensible gun ownership and law abiding citizens be allowed some form of Concealed Carry.  Forty-nine other states can't be wrong.