Sunday, April 28, 2013

This principal needs to be removed.

Not only is he teaching the students how to be racist but now he is teaching them how to lie about it. Is this the best they have?
A North Side Chicago Public Schools principal says internal leadership problems, not “racist tendencies,” led to his baseball team forfeiting a game Saturday on the city’s South Side. The explanation came after a series of media reports, which the principal says are largely inaccurate, said that parents feared for their athletes’ safety on the South Side.
“There were other, less salacious, causes for the game’s cancellation,” Principal Tim Devine wrote in an email to the Walter Payton College Preparatory High School community. “The reasons for the cancellation stem from leadership issues within the baseball program.”
Payton’s baseball coach, William Wittleder, told several news outlets on Saturday that a group of parents didn’t allow their sons to travel to Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy because of safety concerns. Wittleder said that he still went to Brooks to apologize to the opposing coach and explain the reasons for the forfeiture. Wittleder didn’t return multiple voice mails and an email seeking comment on Sunday.
Payton is on the Near North Side, between the Gold Coast and Cabrini-Green. Brooks, also a CPS school, is in the Far South Side’s Roseland neighborhood.
Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said Sunday evening that several factors led to the forfeiture, including the fact that Payton athletes were only made aware of the game last Wednesday. Other conflicts included no bus transportation to Brooks, Advanced Placement tests and players who were benched for missing practice for college visits and practice AP tests, Quinn said.
Devine criticized the Chicago Sun-Times and NBC Chicago for their “poor quality of reporting” in his 687-word email to Payton students, faculty and parents. Devine said neither outlet reached out to him for comment.
The story of North Side parents refusing to let their kids play a game on the South Side sparked indignation on Twitter and in the media. Brooks’ baseball coach, Bryan Street, told the Sun-Times he would never agree to another game with Payton.
Devine and Brooks’ principal, D’Andre Weaver, issued a joint statement Sunday that said they had agreed to move past Saturday’s event.
“We look forward to both of our schools meeting on the field again soon,” they added.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

All of a sudden, he is a nice guy!


Former Mayor Richard Daley is giving more than $500,000 remaining in his campaign fund to 13 charities, with the biggest bequest going to the After School Matters organization founded by his wife Maggie, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
He's also giving six-figure sums to a cancer center that bears the late Maggie Daley's name and a prominent children's hospital.
Daley could have put the money in his pocket and paid taxes on it. State law bans that practice, but Daley is part of an increasingly smaller group of veteran politicians allowed to take what was in their campaign funds as of the end of June 1998. The former mayor chose another route.
"I have to say, that's pretty commendable," said David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "It's pretty rare that a campaign committee gives that much to charity."
The decision to give the money to the charity came nearly two years after Daley logged his last full day in office in May 2011. He did not run for re-election after serving a record 22 years as Chicago mayor.
Some of the donations have been sent out. Others are in the works. Before they were settled on, Daley had spent more than $600,000 of the nearly $1.1 million that was in his campaign coffers a month after his departure from city government.
Daley took none for himself. Instead, he's found other ways to make a living.
The 71-year-old onetime Cook County state's attorney sits on the board of Coca-Cola, and he is "of counsel" at the international law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman. He also coordinates an urban lecture series at University of Chicago as a distinguished senior fellow.
He is a senior adviser at JPMorgan Chase, where he heads the Global Cities Initiative financed by the Brookings Institution.
Along with his son Patrick, Daley has launched a Chicago-based investment and advisory firm called Tur Partners that focuses on sustainable urban development.
The former mayor did spend a good chunk of the campaign money on pet causes before giving the rest to charity. After leaving office, he paid Carol Brown and Eileen Hubbell more than $215,000 to organize his archives and provide services to the RMD Global Cities Institute, an outgrowth of the Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum named after Daley's late father, according to campaign finance reports.
In late 2011 he spent nearly $29,000 on office space where the organization of his archives was staged and nearly $63,000 to move and store the materials from his city tenure. He also paid Patricia Kilroe, his campaign fund chairwoman and treasurer, a total of $114,000.
Last December, Daley gave $100,000 to After School Matters, which runs many of Chicago Public Schools' after-school programs.
Here's how he's dividing up the remaining $540,000 of his campaign fund, according to longtime spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard:
•$150,000 more to After School Matters.
•$100,000 each to the Maggie Daley Center for Women's Cancer Care and the Lurie Children's Foundation of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Maggie Daley in November 2011 died from metastatic breast cancer after living with the disease for many years. She had been treated at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. The foundation named after Ann Lurie and her late husband, Robert, endowed The Lurie Garden at Millennium Park, one of Daley's signature city projects.
•$25,000 each for the Misericordia Home for people with developmental disabilities, and De La Salle Institute, the Catholic high school Daley attended.
•$20,000 each to the Children of the Crossroads Foundation, a scholarship fund affiliated with the Frances Xavier Warde School founded by Maggie Daley; the Faith Community of St. Sabina, which provides safe homes for foster children; and Kids Off the Block, which provides at-risk, low-income youth programming in the Roseland community.
•$20,000 apiece to Sweet Beginnings LLC, a honey-producing arm of the North Lawndale Employment Network; Casa Central, an agency that provides a wide array of programs in Humboldt Park; and El Valor, a similar organization in Pilsen.
•$10,000 for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and the Widows' & Children's Assistance Fund set up by retired Chicago firefighters.

He made sure this story got in the press too. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

McDonald's Corporation about to be wacked by Obamacare



What will be the full economic effect of Obamacare? Is this just another story about rich businessmen crying or will small businesses really be laying off tens of thousands workers? Will Obamacare cause another recession? Does anyone have an answer? 
Here's one thing you likely won't find a McDonald's franchise owner happy to ask his employees anytime soon: “Would you like a side of health care with that shake?”
That’s because some of the fast food chain’s franchisees say that the costs associated with President Obama's health care reform law will cut deep into profits, according to a recent survey of 25 McDonald’s owners conducted by Janney Capital Markets obtained by The Huffington Post.
One franchisee even went so far as to say, “Obamacare will negatively hit us like nothing else," according to the survey.
Some franchisees said they're suffering from McDonald’s overemphasis on discount deals. Others claimed the chain's new product, the McWrap, isn’t a sure bet.McDonald’s has seen slumping sales since last summer and Obamacare, some franchise owners say, is only going to make things worse.
“Obamacare is going to destroy already low profits, [and] McDonald‟s Corporation does not seem to care,” adding, “the future looks BLEAK.”
McDonald’s did not return a request for comment from The Huffington Post.
McDonald's franchisees are not they only people worrying about the costs associated with Obamacare, which requires businesses with 50 or more full-time workers to provide health care coverage to employees. Corporate chains and small businessesalike have expressed concern that the new health care law will hurt their bottom lines.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Flooding

The spring rains have caused some flooding here and there. Lots of standing water on the streets. The forecast is for rain all day long. That means some people are in for a surprise when they get home from work.

Friday, April 12, 2013

19th Ward Takeover of Worth Township

Just a good alderman

This past Election Tuesday saw Worth township flooded with 19th Ward operatives. When it was over and the election results tallied, the slate put together by Matt O'Shea was declared the victor. In fact, O'Shea won all the seats except one. His political power now extends all the way to Harlem Avenue.

Congratulations, I guess. I just hope you don't lose your focus.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Important announcement from Alderman O'Shea


Effective April 15th, all garbage collection in the 19th Ward will occur on Mondays and Tuesdays. This change is part of a citywide shift to a grid based garbage collection service. By altering the way the City collects garbage, the Department of Streets and Sanitation will increase efficiency and deliver millions of dollars of cost savings to the taxpayers.

 

Monday Collection

All homes west of Western Ave.

99th St. to 107th St., Longwood Dr. to Western Ave.

All homes south of 107th St.

 

Tuesday Collection

All homes north of 99th St.

99th St. - 107th St. east of Longwood Dr.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Rahm is not happy

Does he look happy to you? The guy is burning out before our eyes.
Shortfalls
Teachers
Gangs
Killings
Schools
Pensions
Aldermen
Tax Increase
Guns
Crime
Police
Michigan Avenue
Claypool
Unions
Madigan
Daley
Cubs
Murder rate
School closings
CTA
Rosemont
Taste of Chicago


I predict he will not run again and is presently burning up the phone lines to Obama looking for an appointment to something (anything) prestigious.