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Ex-Ill. powerbroker sentenced to year in prison

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:11:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge sentenced former Illinois powerbroker William Cellini to a year in prison Thursday for conspiring to shake down a movie producer, capping off the last trial to stem from the investigation of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Cellini, 77, was once known to political insiders as the King of Clout for his behind-the-scenes influence in state government. He was convicted last year for his role in trying to get a $1.5 million campaign contribution for Blagojevich from Thomas Rosenberg — the Oscar-winning producer of "Million Dollar Baby" — in exchange for state business.

Judge James Zagel sentenced Cellini to one year and one day in prison.

Defense attorneys had asked Zagel for probation, pointing to Cellini's poor health and the limited time period involved in the wrongdoing.

Prosecutors recommended a 6 1/2- to eight-year prison sentence. They too asked Zagel to take Cellini's health into account, but noted the crime was serious because it involved public officials.

Cellini suffered a heart attack in June while undergoing a medical procedure.

"Mr. Cellini is in the twilight of his life," defense attorney Dan Webb told Zagel.

Chicago teacher strike enters its second week

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:53:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago teachers uncomfortable with a tentative contract offer decided Sunday to remain on strike, insisting they need more time before deciding whether to end an acrimonious standoff with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that will keep 350,000 students out of class for at least two more days.

Emanuel fired back Sunday night by instructing city attorneys to seek a court order forcing Chicago Teachers Union members back into the classroom. "This was a strike of choice and is now a delay of choice that is wrong for our children," he said in a statement.

Presented with a choice on whether to ask members to vote on a contract that union president Karen Lewis had at one point called "a fight for the very soul of public education," the union's 800-member House of Delegates told their leaders they needed more time to talk to the rank and file before ending the city's first teachers strike in 25 years.

Teachers had only a few hours to review a summary of a proposed settlement worked out over the weekend with officials from the nation's third largest school district. That wasn't enough time, they said, to digest a complicated contract that addresses two issues central to the debate over the future of public education across the United States: teacher evaluations and job security.

Teacher evaluations at center of Chicago strike

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 07:16:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — Educators in Los Angeles just signed a new contract with the city's school district. So, too, did teachers in Boston. Both require performance evaluations based in part on how well students succeed, a system that's making its debut in Cleveland.

So what's the problem in Chicago, where 25,000 teachers in the nation's third-largest district have responded to an impatient mayor's demand that teacher evaluations be tied to student performance by walking off the job for the first time in 25 years?

To start, while Chicago's teachers have drawn the hardest line in recent memory against using student test scores to rate teacher performance, contract agreements in other cities — including those reached this week in Boston and Los Angeles — have hardly come quickly or with ease. They were often signed grudgingly, at the direction of a court or following negotiations that took years. And mayors and school officials have also won over reluctant teachers by promising to first launch pilot projects aimed at proving a concept many believe is inherently unfair.

Rapper Rhymefest could be on Chicago City Council

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:21:26 +0000

Alderman Rhymefest?

The Grammy-winning rapper is running an unorthodox campaign for City Council in a year that promises major changes in Chicago politics.

Experts say around 10 aldermen are retiring along with Mayor Richard Daley and a similar number are vulnerable to challengers. That includes the South Side ward where Che "Rhymefest" Smith is challenging Alderman Willie Cochran in Tuesday's election.

Rhymefest paints himself as an alternative to business as usual, and his street-wise lyrics have given him a youthful following. He's held fundraisers at nightclubs where he performs.

In a field of five candidates, he's picked up support from the powerful Chicago Teachers Union. Political experts say the rapper has a shot at winning his ward, one of the poorest in the city.

Farrakhan predicts ‘white right’ trouble for Obama

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:10:00 +0000

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, boasting his divine stature, on Sunday predicted trouble ahead for President Barack Obama and urged him to do more to improve the lives of blacks and the downtrodden.

The 76-year-old leader said the "white right" was conspiring to make Obama a one-term president, and pointed to his stalled efforts to introduce health care legislation as proof. He said those opponents and lobbyists were trapping him into a future war with Iran that could lead to mass destruction.

"The word 'prophet' is too cheap a word. I am a light in the midst of darkness," Farrakhan said at the annual convention of the movement that embraces black nationalism. "It ain't ego, it's my love for you."

An estimated 20,000 people attended the heavily guarded Saviours' Day event at the United Center in Chicago. Followers -- men dressed in navy uniforms and women in white skirt suits with matching hijabs -- cheered on Farrakhan with shouts of "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great."

Farrakhan spent most of the fiery nearly four-hour speech recounting a 1985 vision he had in Mexico. Farrakhan has often described how he believes he was invited aboard an unidentified flying object he calls "the wheel" where he said he heard the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad speak to him.