Secretary of Education

This is success?

• In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001.
  
  President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday tapped Duncan to become secretary of education in the upcoming administration.
  
  Duncan, hailed by Obama as a reformer, said he would like to take the lessons he learned in Chicago with him when he moves to Washington. “I'm also eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country," Duncan said after Obama formally named him to the job in Chicago.

Of course, if by "...the lessons we have learned here in Chicago..." means caving to the Teachers Union on each and every issue, throwing tons of money at schools to increase salaries and budgets while presiding over decreasing scores and plummeting graduation rates, then the US is in for a rude shock.

That word "success?" We don't think it means the same as it does in Chicago political circles.

Lillie Followup

Yes, we know that many other Districts besides 003 put the arm on people for a big showing at the Christmas parties.

Yes, we know it's been going on for years.

But a couple of points:

• For too long, the "big turnout" at the party was part of some weird popularity contest among the exempt ranks. "My party was bigger than your party" is ridiculous measuring stick by which to measure ability as a commander. Especially if you can force large numbers of underlings to buy tickets.
• If it is a decent party at a decent joint with halfway decent door prizes, there usually isn't an attendance issue. People like to go places they are appreciated or know they will have a good time at. And if it was honoring one or more coppers who were genuinely nice people instead of crusty old jagoffs no one liked, it was an even better time.

In this day and age of politicians being recorded for "pay-to-play," Department morale being so low as to be unmeasurable, J-Fed and his crew looking for the very tiniest infractions to hammer and make examples of Officers with, do we really need even the slightest hint of impropriety to be rearing it's head around anything to do with Christmas parties?

Maybe, in an effort to raise morale and recognize that officers are what makes the Department work, the Commanders ought to pay for the party themselves and give the tickets out to the Officers.

Midway Gun Incident

Evidently, the commander of 003 has lost her mind. Two different comments popped up today:

• This just in At 1400 Hours at Chicago Midway What commnader tried to fly to Houston with her weapon and was stopped and not happy with TSA? Check RD# HP741649 [sic]
  
• Hey my buddy is a tsa agent at midway about 1400 hours crump hales is flying out to houston, but she was carrying her gun through securuty was not happy and a case report was generated, tsa called washington and she will be receiving a big fine in the mail poor lillie! Karma is a bitch! [sic]
  

Didn't they just come out with a whole new set of rules about flying armed? Didn't they just post it in the CO Books? Didn't it emphasize the only people flying armed were those operating in their official capacity during prisoner transports and similar duties?

That's what we thought.

Hegewisch Shooting

Officer (possibly a sergeant) not seriously wounded:

• Officials tonight are investigating a police-involved shooting in the Hegewisch neighborhood in which an officer also was shot but not seriously injured.
  
  The incident occurred at about 9 p.m. in the 13400 block of South Burley Avenue. An officer and a man exchanged gunfire, each striking the other, said Chicago Police Officer John Henry.
  
  Mark Payne, spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, was on the scene at about 10:15 p.m. and confirmed that both a police officer and "another individual" had been hit by gunfire. Investigators recovered a handgun at the scene he said and are still trying to determine the circumstances that led to the shootings and how many people were involved.

Be careful out there people.

UPDATE: Post moved from 10:32 PM on 18 Dec 08

Mobster Doth Protest Too Much

Sometime blog reader and author Robert Cooley made an accusation this week that Blago used to be part of a mobbed up bookkeeping operation in the western suburbs. Cooley would have some knowledge of these shenanigans as he turned government witness and helped jail 24 other lawyers, politicos, judges and a cop or two. Now there's a convicted bookmaker stepping up to say he never had any dealings with Blago.

• Abbinanti admits having run outfit gambling rackets with Marco 'The Mover' D'amico and that he was convicted with top mob gambling bosses for which he spent six years in the federal penitentiary.

  "I don't know what Rod Blagojevich did or has done but I do know one thing. I never met the man. I never spoke to the man. I never had any business personal or in any way with him and you know what, it's just an injustice," said Abbinanti.

All that proves is that Abbinanti is smarter than Blago for not getting caught on federal wiretaps. But what does it say about Illinois politics when a convicted Outfit soldier is your most prominent defender and your lawyer has a habit of representing persons known by the Chicago Crime Commission as mob members?

Gun Ban Stands (for now)

But even the judge admits that it might not stand much longer:

• In his ruling, Shadur appeared to caution the city that its victory might be short-lived.

  "This court should not be misunderstood as either rejecting or endorsing the logic of plaintiff's argument. It may well carry the day before a court that is unconstrained by the obligation to follow the unreversed precedent of a court that occupies a higher position in the judicial firmament," the decision stated.

Even Washington is bowing to the inevitable and permitting gun ownership:

• Earlier this week, the D.C. Council replaced its overturned law with new regulations that require gun owners to receive five hours of safety training and register their firearms every three years.

  Gun owners in the nation's capital would also face criminal background checks every six years.

DC isn't banning guns. They realize that that train has left the station. They just want to put up more hoops to jump through and make it inconvenient to own a gun.

Lillie Strikes Again

Come on now. Seriously. In this day and age?

• Why is Lillie "Burger King" Crump-Hales threatening to dump every Tactical or Gang Officer that does not buy a ticket AND attend the 003rd District Christmas party? How much more can she destroy the morale of that District?? I heard she was dumb, but give me a break! Stop treating your Officers like crap! It's obvious that you were never the working Police. She is truly a joke.

Do we really need this?

Snitches Get Stitches?

Snitches is Bitches? Snitches wind up in Ditches? If we're reading this correctly, Jesse Jr. has been feeding the FBI info about Blago for years, and still got caught up in some sort of bidding war for the other Illinois Senate seat:

• Shortly after his 2002 election, Gov. Rod Blagojevich told Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. he didn't appoint the congressman's wife for lottery director because he had refused to make a $25,000 donation to the governor's campaign, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press.

  "That's why she's not getting the job," the person quoted Blagojevich as saying. The person, a Jackson associate who was interviewed Tuesday by the AP, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing federal investigation.

  Jackson's name has played prominently ever since Blagojevich was arrested last week on corruption charges, including allegations that the governor tried to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for personal gain.

Instead of the theory we saw in the comment section that maybe Daley was "Whitey Bulger" feeding the feds info on people he wanted kept in check, maybe Jesse Jr and the whole Jackson crime family have been feeding info to the feds to undercut competition and maintain their grip on the race pandering industry and corporate extortion rackets. It makes as much sense as anything else we've seen so far.

Chicago - Fifth Worst City

According to Business Weekly:

• Worst Cities to Work and Live: Chicago
  
  Rank: 5
  Workers who would not like to move there: 8%
  Median household income: $45,505
  Median home value: $234,643
  Annual home price change: -8.9%
  
  Chicago has a lot of jobs, entertainment, and culture to offer, but for many people, winters in the Windy City are simply too cold. The city also has a tough image that dates back to the era of Al Capone. Among the city's worst attributes, according to the survey: environment (including climate), community (connectivity and sense of place), and affordability.

Between New Orleans (4) and Washington DC (6). That surge of civic pride just chokes us up.

$86 Million - But no Raises

Nothing like prioritizing things:

• The Chicago City Council voted 48-0 today to approve a deal for the city to buy the 37-acre Michael Reese Hospital site for $86 million as part of the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics.

  The Daley administration hopes to use the site as the Olympic Village and then transform it into a mixed-use development with affordable housing.

And still no word that we're even going to get the games. The odds appear in Chicago's favor since the Obama election, but what if it all goes south at some point? We're sitting on 492 murders already this year. Next year?

At least we know where the CPD falls in the general scheme of things.

Hi Frank!

Frank Main - Ace Reporter (not):

• At least 50 members of the Chicago Patrolmen's Credit Union have been targets of thieves who have used their debit card numbers, authorities said Tuesday.

  Investigators suspect the thieves are stealing the card numbers when the cards are used to make online payments. Police don't think credit union employees are involved in the thefts. About 12 financial institutions, including the credit union, have been hit.

Glad we could do the heavy lifting for you Frank. How about you fire a check for $1,000 over to the Hundred Club of Cook County in our names since we write almost an article a week for you this past year?

Maybe we can write movie reviews next year and maybe take a load off of Ebert's plate.

Hyde Park Killing

Hyde Park...Hyde Park...

Something important is going on there. We always see a million cops there with eight snowplows and all sorts of guys in suits.

• A man was found shot to death on a Hyde Park street late Tuesday, police said.

  Officers found a man later identified as Cydrell Bragg, 28, of an undetermined Chicago address, lying on the street with a gunshot wound to the head about 11:55 p.m. in the 1600 block of East 53rd Street, a police spokesman said. The area where he was found is near a Metra viaduct and station.

  The man was dead on the scene, said Officer David Banks. Officials from the Cook County Medical Examiner's office were on the scene a little after 1 a.m.

Sound like a dangerous place. Well, that's all the City lately. Are we at 500 yet?

And Another Shooting

Down south. And once again, the police go home safe while the OFFENDER goes to the hospital:

• A Chicago police officer shot an armed offender while executing a search warrant tonight on the South Side.
  
  At about 7:04 p.m., officers from the Narcotics Section approached a residence in the 7300 block of South Kingston Avenue when a person confronted the officers with a gun, according to a statement issued by the police department.
  
  An officer fired his weapon and the suspect was struck, the police statement said.

Good job officer.

Dumb Kid

Where the hell are his parents?

This picture was on the front page of the Tribune's website for a good portion of the day yesterday. Evidently, this kid has (A) never seen the movie "A Christmas Story" and (B) never seen anybody in his neighborhood walking a dog.

Open post in the meantime.

Lucy!!!

Someone's got some 'splaining to do:

• Sneed hears rumbles President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds -- dealing with his boss' vacant Senate seat!

  A lot of chit-chat?

No, we'd imagine it's not a lot of chit-chat. We'd imagine Rahm is knee deep in the shit because it hardly seems likely he talked to Blago 21 times and the Senate seat never came up.

Surfers Beware

A major flaw discovered in Internet Explorer:

• The major press outlets are abuzz this morning with news of a major new security flaw that affects all versions of Internet Explorer from IE5 to the latest beta of IE8. The attack has serious and far-reaching ramifications -- and they're not just theoretical attacks. In fact, the flaw is already in wide use as a tool to steal online game passwords, with some 10,000 websites infected with the code needed to take advantage of the hole in IE.

As the entire CPD runs on Internet Explorer, we'd imagine our IT people are working busily at fixing this massive gaping hole in security.

Start Growing Your Hair

It's almost time for the St. Baldric's fundraiser:

• While everyone is busy thinking about the upcoming Holidays, please start thinking about St. Baldrick's Day as well. For those that don’t remember from last year, St. Baldrick's is an event that raises money for childhood cancer research, and over 90% of the money raised goes directly towards this research.
  
  St. Baldrick’s is an event where you offer to get your head shaved or if you have hair longer than 12” you donate that hair to be used for making wigs for childhood cancer patients, in return for pledges that are turned into research dollars. Chicago area hospitals and doctors have been direct recipients of funds from St. Baldrick’s and more information can be learned at www.stbaldricks.org . The CPD site for 2009 will be up and running soon.
  
  Last year was the first year CPD put a team together and despite a very short time frame, we raised over $77,000.00 which was outstanding, and I know we will do even better this year. The 2009 event will take place on Friday, March 6, 2009 so mark your calendars and start letting your hair grow, more details will follow.

So there's time to get a nice haircut for the Christmas pictures with Grandma, then start aiming for a trimming in March, just in time for spring.

What Snowplows?

This is ridiculous. We just traveled 15 miles through the City. Guess how many plows we saw? Guess how many salt trucks? We'll give you a hint:

• Z _ R _

Vanna, we'd like to buy a vowel please. Two vowels actually.

WBBM is reporting that all 274 (or similar number) snowplows and salt trucks are out clearing streets.

We say bullshit. Who are you going to believe - Daley's Snow Command or your goddamn lying eyes?

Daley has lost it. He's "saving" money at the cost of property damage and endangering lives. One of the newspapers noted "slip-and-fall" visits to the emergency rooms were something like three times usual averages. Our own Medical Section has noted a marked increase in injuries related to icing. How much is Daley willing to lose in missed work time, lawsuit payouts and lost sales tax revenue when everyone decides to do their Christmas shopping somewhere they can actually drive to in less than an hour? It's three-and-a-half hours from downtown to O'Hare and the city doesn't even do the expressways anymore. Surface streets are worse.

City Council to Piss Away Money

It's truly sad when Bernie Stone is the one showing some spine:

• A divided City Council committee today recommended paying nearly $2.3 million to the family of a teenager who was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer after the teen took part in a home invasion at the home of the officer's parents.

  [...] But, in rare dissents from such recommendations, four aldermen disagreed, setting the state for a possible full City Council debate on Wednesday.

  "I say we go to trial on this one," Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) said. " don't agree with the settlement on this one. . . I can't see paying the estate for an armed robber who invaded a home."

The copper named in this case ended up killing his wife a few years later, but the fact remains that at the time, his residence was home invaded by a piece of garbage who got exactly what was coming to him. And now the dead guy is a lottery ticket.

That's Entertainment

Entertainment - Illinois style:

• House lawmakers voted 113-0 to authorize a committee to investigate a host of pay-to-play allegations leveled against the governor, just six days after he was arrested by federal agents at his North Side home. The vote marked the unique circumstance of Democratic lawmakers leading a bid to displace Illinois' first Democratic governor in a quarter-century.

In the meantime, Obama "clarifies" his remarks further, backing away from claims he and his staff had "no contact" with Blago over the Senate seat and instead had "no inappropriate contacts" with Blago (we certainly wonder what those tapes are going to reveal).

Rahm Emanuel continues to refuse to answer questions and a new Rasmussen poll notes that 45% of respondents feel that Obama or his team are involved in the Blago scandal.

And now Obama is going to name Arne Duncan to be Education Secretary? Has anyone even looked at the Chicago Public School system lately? On one hand, we're thankful Obama is taking another useless political hack to Washington with him. On the other, does the rest of America really deserve what's coming?