“Blagojevich to FBI: Is this a joke?” – Medill Reports
That’s what Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked Chicago FBI Chief Robert Grant when Grant called Blagojevich just after 6 Tuesday morning and told him that two FBI agents were waiting at his door to arrest him.
The governor stands charged with abuses of power including involvement in several pay-to-play political scams, through which the governor would take official actions in exchange for campaign contributions.”
“Big win for gay high school activist” – News 21/Shift
“In an end-of-the-year video, seniors from Chicago’s Kelly High School reminisced about their four years together. “I remember when my friend came to school with a pink wig,” one student can be heard saying. “That was gay.”
For Hector, who is gay, it hurt. A skinny and animated 17-year-old from the city’s Brighton Park neighborhood, he had been bullied before because of his sexuality and when he saw the video he knew he had had enough.
“It was an issue that I had a lot of close experience with in my school,” he said recently. “When the video came out, [I decided] it was the last thing I was going to take from my school.”
“Planned museum would make public housing history” – Chi-Town Daily News
“I’m in my 20′s and don’t own a home. Why should I care about the foreclosure crisis?” - The Windy Citizen
If you’re in your 20s or early 30s and don’t own a home, you may think the foreclosure crisis doesn’t affect you. But even as a renter, chances are the changes in the housing market will reach you sometime in the near future.
So why should you pay attention to news about foreclosures and how might it affect you? Here are answers from experts on key questions.”
“Wealthy appeal property taxes more than poor, data shows” – Medill Reports
“The squeaky wheels among Cook County property taxpayers will get their grease as usual. And the silent wheels will carry an increased portion of the county tax burden, unless they take action soon.
In October Mayor Daley, joined by suburban mayors and commissioners from the board of review, urged homeowners to appeal their assessments in the face of declining home values. Board commissioners indicated homeowners who appeal stand a good chance of having their assessments lowered.
But, as Art Lyons of the Center for Economic Policy Analysis explained, “The property tax is like a giant balloon. If you push in one place, it pops out somewhere else.”
“The godfather of alternative policing strategies in Chicago” – For the People (with Sam Abernethy)
“Wesley Skogan may look like a typical college professor, but college professors don’t typically spend their time interviewing cops and ex-gang-bangers. The 66-year-old Skogan is a political science professor at Northwestern University and an expert on crime. He is associate director of the Institute for Policy Research, with an office on the ground floor of a two-story brick house at 625 Haven Street in Evanston.
“Deadly 2008 in Chicago: What happened?” – For the People (with Sam Abernethy)
“There’s no telling what could have saved Johnny Edwards.
Edwards was the youngest of three teenagers killed in February in a hail of automatic gunfire at 87th Street and Exchange Avenue. He was a few days shy of his 14th birthday.
Raheem Washington, 15, and Kendrick Pitts, 17, were also killed.
In 2008 Chicago had 510 murders, nearly 15 percent more than the previous year. More than half of those murder victims were under 25.”
“Obama’s hometown throws him a party” – Medill Reports (as part of a team of reporters in Grant Park on Election Night 2008)
“Altgeld Gardens residents proud of Obama victory” – Northwest Indiana Times (with Susan Dosemagen)
“Residents of Altgeld Gardens — a sprawling public housing development on the far South Side — woke up Wednesday morning to a changed America: A man who devoted several years to improving their community will be the next president of the United States.
“It’s like I’m in a dream,” said Alice Atwater, 64, who doesn’t live in Altgeld but was picking up her grandchildren from school there Wednesday afternoon.”