Salon.com > Don Babwin

Official proposes bullet tax to curb Chicago crime

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:45:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — As Chicago struggles to quell gang violence that has contributed to a jump in homicides, a top elected official wants to tax the sale of every bullet and firearm — an effort even she acknowledges could spark a legal challenge.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will submit a budget proposal Thursday that calls for a tax of a nickel for each bullet and $25 for each firearm sold in the nation's second-largest county, which encompasses Chicago.

Preckwinkle's office estimates the tax will generate about $1 million a year, money that would be used for various county services including medical care for gunshot victims. Law enforcement officials would not have to pay the tax, but the office said it would apply to 40 federally licensed gun dealers in the county.

Through last week, the city reported 409 homicides this year compared to 324 during the same period in 2011. Although the violence still doesn't approach the nearly 900 homicides a year Chicago averaged in the 1990s, officials say gang violence was largely to blame for a rash of shootings earlier this year.

Preckwinkle insists the ordinance is far more about addressing gun violence than raising money for a county that faces a deficit of more than $100 million next year.

Chicago teachers’ strike grinds into third day

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:00:00 +0000

The public exchanges between striking Chicago teachers and the school district grew more personal Wednesday as negotiators returned to the bargaining table on the walkout's third day.

A top district negotiator, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, criticized teachers union President Karen Lewis for using the word "silly" when describing the negotiations to a crowd of adoring teachers a day earlier.

"It is not silly that we spent over 10 hours yesterday attempting to bridge the gap," Byrd-Bennett said just before the talks resumed. "We take these negotiations incredibly serious."

The strike has canceled classes for more than 350,000 students.

Union officials continued to play down the chances of a quick resolution to the dispute, which centers on the district's proposed new teacher evaluation process and a policy on rehiring teachers that have been laid off. The district said it had presented the union with a new comprehensive proposal Tuesday and was demanding either a response in writing or a comprehensive counter-proposal.

"It's going to take time to work things out," Lewis said. "It's also going to take the will to make compromises. We have made quite a few. We would like to see more on their side."

Thousands join teacher’s strike in Chicago

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:01:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — Thousands of teachers walked off the job Monday in Chicago's first schools strike in 25 years, after union leaders announced that months-long negotiations had failed to resolve a contract dispute with school district officials by a midnight deadline.

The walkout in the nation's third-largest school district posed a tricky challenge for the city and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who said he would push to end the strike quickly as officials figure out how to keep nearly 400,000 children safe and occupied.

"This is not a strike I wanted," Emanuel said Sunday night, not long after the union announced the action. "It was a strike of choice ... it's unnecessary, it's avoidable and it's wrong."

Some 26,000 teachers and support staff were expected to join the picket. Among teachers protesting Monday morning outside Benjamin Banneker Elementary School on Chicago's South Side, eighth-grade teacher Michael Williams said he wanted a quick contract resolution.

"We hoped that it wouldn't happen. We all want to get back to teaching," Williams said, adding that wages and classroom conditions need to be improved.

Contract negotiations between Chicago Public School officials and union leaders that stretched through the weekend were expected to resume Monday.

Rahm Emanuel sworn in as Chicago’s new mayor

Mon, 16 May 2011 18:39:20 +0000

Rahm Emanuel was sworn in Monday as Chicago's first new mayor in two decades, a historic power shift for a city where the retiring Richard M. Daley was the only leader a whole generation had ever known.

The former White House chief of staff took the oath of office at downtown's Millennium Park, one of the signature accomplishments in Daley's efforts to transform Chicago from an industrial hub into a gleaming global tourist destination. He planned to head to City Hall later to the fifth-floor office that was Daley's lair for 22 years.

"We must face the truth," Emanuel said in his inaugural speech. "It is time to take on the challenges that threaten the very future of our city: the quality of our schools, the safety of our streets, the cost and effectiveness of city government, and the urgent need to create the jobs of the future."

"The decisions we make in the next two or three years will determine what Chicago will look like in the next 20 or 30."

Emanuel inherits a city with big financial problems. His transition team predicted a $700 million budget shortfall next year, but because of some controversial decisions by Daley -- most notably the push to privatize parking meters -- he has limited ways to pay for school improvements or repair the city's aging infrastructure.

Emanuel sworn in as Chicago’s new mayor

Mon, 16 May 2011 16:54:00 +0000

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was sworn in Monday as Chicago's first new mayor in two decades, a historic power shift in a city where the retiring Richard M. Daley was the only mayor a whole generation of Chicagoans have ever known.

Emanuel was sworn in during a morning inauguration ceremony at the popular downtown Millennium Park, one of the signature accomplishments in Daley's efforts to transform the city. Emanuel later planned to head over to City Hall and, for the first time since he was elected in February, walk into the fifth-floor office that was Daley's lair for 22 years.

"The decisions we make in the next two or three years will determine what Chicago will look like in the next 20 or 30."

Emanuel's swearing-in completes an interesting role swap between City Hall and the White House: Emanuel's replacement as Obama's chief of staff is the outgoing mayor's younger brother, William Daley.

Emanuel faces big money woes as next Chicago mayor

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:01:00 +0000

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel won't have much time to celebrate his victory as Chicago's new mayor.

Emanuel, who overwhelmed the race with truckloads of money and friends in high places from Washington to Hollywood, will take control of a city in deep financial trouble with problems ranging from an understaffed police department to underperforming schools.

On Tuesday, Emanuel won 55 percent of the vote, easily outdistancing former Chicago schools president Gery Chico, who had 24 percent, and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and City Clerk Miguel del Valle, who each had 9 percent. He succeeds Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is retiring after 22 years in office as the longest-serving mayor in Chicago's history.

But the city he inherits, though perhaps more beautiful than ever after years of extensive urban improvements, is in financial straits that it hasn't seen since before Daley's father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, came to power in the 1950s.

"Not since the Great Depression have the finances of the city been this precarious," said Dominic Pacyga, a historian and author of "Chicago: A Biography." The city's next budget deficit could again exceed $500 million, mostly the result of reduced tax revenue from the recession, and could reach $1 billion if the city properly funds its pension system.

Chicago voters cast “Daley”-less mayoral ballots

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:14:00 +0000

Chicago voters cast ballots in a mayoral election Tuesday that didn't include the name "Richard M. Daley" for the first time in decades -- a contest that will bring new leadership to a city facing some of the most daunting economic challenges in its history.

The six candidates spent Tuesday morning still pushing for votes, shaking hands with surprised commuters and diner-goers and pleading their cases for why they should be picked to succeed the retiring Daley, who will leave office this spring after 22 years on the job.

"This is a critical election for the future of the city of Chicago. We're at a crossroads," front-runner Rahm Emanuel said as he greeted commuters at a South Side train station.

The campaign began last fall when Daley -- with his wife ailing, six terms under his belt, and a future of fiscal challenges facing Chicago -- announced he wouldn't seek re-election.

The candidates who rushed in to fill that void included Emanuel, President Barack Obama's former chief of staff; former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun; former Chicago public schools president Gery Chico; and City Clerk Miguel del Valle.

Rahm Emanuel is back on the ballot for Chicago mayor

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:20:00 +0000

The Illinois Supreme Court has put Rahm Emanuel back on the ballot for Chicago mayor.

Thursday's decision revives the campaign of the former White House chief of staff who was thrown off the Feb. 22 ballot by an Illinois appellate court for not meeting a residency requirement because he hadn't lived in Chicago for a year before the race.

Emanuel lived for nearly two years in Washington working for President Barack Obama until he moved back to Chicago in October to run for mayor.

In their appeal to the state's high court, Emanuel's attorneys called the appellate court decision "one of the most far-reaching election law rulings ever" issued by an Illinois court.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Rahm Emanuel pushed on with his campaign Thursday, including attending a planned a televised debate. But the real debate over his chances of becoming Chicago's next mayor went on behind closed doors.

If Illinois' highest court does not restore the former White House chief of staff to the ballot, Emanuel's other options such as a write-in campaign or an appeal to the federal courts appeared less promising.

Bill Clinton to campaign in Chicago for Emanuel

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:18:00 +0000

Former President Bill Clinton is coming to Chicago Tuesday to campaign for mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel, but his visit is the cause of some controversy.

While the former White House chief of staff hopes Clinton can persuade voters to cast their ballots for him Feb. 22, a former mayoral contender has warned that Clinton is risking his popular standing with the African American community by backing Emanuel rather than a black candidate.

Clinton is scheduled to appear with Emanuel at the Chicago Cultural Center Tuesday morning. The candidate touted the visit in his campaign mailings over the weekend, mixed with an appeal for campaign donations.

"I'm honored to have President Clinton's support," Emanuel told supporters in the e-mail on Sunday. "I'm excited to show President Clinton the great Chicagoans who've made this campaign possible."

Emanuel is among about a dozen names on the mayoral ballot. Three of his rivals, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, former schools president Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle, have emphasized their deep city roots while claiming Emanuel is more of a Washington insider. Braun has the support of many black leaders in the city, while Chico picked up the endorsement of Congressman Luis Gutierrez this month.

Blagojevich jurors tell judge they are stalled

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:20:00 +0000

The jury's message that it is deadlocked on a number of charges in the corruption trial of Rod Blagojevich raised as many questions as answers Thursday, but some legal experts agreed it was better news for the disgraced former governor than for prosecutors.

In a note read in court by Judge James Zagel, jurors said they had only managed to agree on two of 24 counts against Blagojevich, and had not even begun discussing 11 of the counts.

On the 12th day of deliberations, Zagel instructed the jury to go back and continue their work, but the panel's disclosure sparked speculation that some jurors had doubts about the prosecution's case.

"It's a victory for the defense for several reasons," said Douglas Godfrey, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, arguing that the way the government had presented its case was extremely complex. "If the jury hangs on 22, it's a big blow to government."

Michael Helfand, a Chicago defense attorney not involved in the case, agreed there was potentially positive news in the note for Blagojevich.

"The defense has every reason to be thrilled," Helfand said. "This jury has been deliberating for such a long time, the chances of someone changing their mind now aren't good."

Playboy launches work-safe website for office use

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:06:00 +0000

Finally, something for those guys who say they read Playboy for the articles: a chance to prove it.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. launched a website Tuesday that it swears will be safe to browse while at work, eliminating the need for men to throw themselves over their computer screen when the boss walks by.

TheSmokingJacket.com will contain none of the nudity that makes Playboy.com NSFW -- not suitable for work. Instead, it'll rely on humor to reach Playboy's target audience, men 25 to 34 years old, when they are most likely to be in front of a computer screen.

"A lot of our audience logs on (to Playboy.com) after work and we saw that we were missing a golden opportunity to reach guys when they're online the most: when they're sitting at their desk, not working, sending e-mails to their friends," said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy's editorial director.

The site, named after one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's favorite pieces of clothing (silkpajamas.com was taken), won't include the long interviews or in-depth articles found in Playboy.

Instead, it's meant to be decidedly un-serious. Or, in the parlance of its audience, ROFL -- rolling on the floor, laughing. And cool, "basically a juke box of cool," said Jellinek.

If gun ban is overturned, Chicago has a backup plan

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:16:00 +0000

If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Chicago's handgun ban, the city will likely do what Washington, D.C., did when its own ban was overturned two years ago: Put in place all sorts of regulations and restrictions to make it tougher to buy guns and easier for police to know who has them.

"We're not going to roll over," Chicago Mayor Richard Daley told The Associated Press.

Daley and city officials would not say specifically what plans they have in mind if the Supreme Court rules against the city next week. But what's obvious to pretty much everyone involved is that a ruling favorable to Chicago gun rights supporters will lead to a new round of legislation -- and lawsuits.

"Just like they did in Washington, D.C., the city of Chicago is going to try to make it as difficult and discouraging as humanly possible to keep people from having guns in their homes for personal protection," said Dave Workman, spokesman for the Bellevue, Washington-based Second Amendment Foundation.

He can count on it.

Since the ban was lifted in D.C., just over 800 guns have been registered in city. The relatively low total comes as the district has passed a slew of new requirements such as training, a test for prospective gun owners and ballistic tests for the guns they buy.

Ferguson: Access offer began as way to help friend

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:45:00 +0000

An apologetic Sarah Ferguson told Oprah Winfrey that even though she is in deep financial debt, her offer to sell access to her former husband, Prince Andrew, for $724,000 began as an effort to raise money for a friend.

The Duchess of York said in an interview that aired Tuesday on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she only asked for so much money after the undercover journalist posing as a businessman gave her $40,000 for a friend, whom she would not identify.

"I just took a long shot ... I think I just went, 'Well, if you're going for 40 (thousand dollars), well, OK, if you want to do business in the future,'" she said, trying to explain, before, admitting that she didn't know what she was thinking.

Still, she went ahead after being told the man might invest in her children's books, videos and other projects as well as assist her with what she described as her own "very serious financial debt."

Ferguson would not elaborate on how much money she owes but said she is considering filing for bankruptcy.

She also would not confirm a report Winfrey said she'd seen that says she receives $20,000 a year in her divorce settlement, saying that she is prohibited from discussing it because of a confidentiality agreement she signed. But she also suggested that she took less money than she could have because she wanted to remain friends with Queen Elizabeth, whom she referred to as "the boss."

Schools urge parents not to take kids to work

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:32:00 +0000

Many U.S. school districts are urging parents to keep their kids in class and not take them to work Thursday for an annual event they say disrupts learning at an increasingly critical time of year.

From Arizona to Illinois to Texas, educators are alerting parents that between high-stakes standardized testing in some areas and the H1N1 virus that kept thousands of children home earlier in the school year, the timing of "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" doesn't make sense.

"This year, of all years, to have a student miss a day for something like this that could be done anytime -- it just seems the focus should be on students and their learning here," said Guy Schumacher, the superintendent of Libertyville Elementary School District 70 in suburban Chicago.

Some administrators said they recognized that spending time with their parents at work could be a valuable educational experience for children, but it does not justify pulling them out of the classroom -- even for one day.

"Stakes have never been higher for student achievement," wrote Virginia B. McElyea, the superintendent of the Deer Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz. "Every day your child is out of school his or her learning achievement suffers."