A Chicago Blog

So I went down to see the immigration protests yesterday. I went packing my video camera thinking I would get lots of interesting footage. But sadly, my battery died just as I was making my way to Federal Plaza (piece of crap). So I was left with only the functions available on my Blackberry. Over [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

From the Trib Editorial Page:
Two Chicago Democrats in the Illinois Senate paid a call on the Tribune editorial board last week. When prompted, Kwame Raoul and Heather Steans told us they don’t want a recall amendment added to the state constitution. They do, however, want an amendment to kill the mandate of a flat-rate state [...]

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform has done the state of Illinois a major service by investigating how much local governments and government agencies spend to lobby state government for tax and funding increases. It published a report this week with the following details:
* In the midst of legislative debates on [...]

Well, I’m finally back in Chicago after more than a week on the road. I feel like Johnny Cash; I’ve been to Seattle, Denver, Reno, and Vegas. Two days in Seattle were vacation days and I will be posting pictures and video shortly.
It’s good to be home, and the spring weather reminds me that I [...]

This sounds like a good idea. The Transportation Security Administration, in order to offset costs of airport security, is selling ads to Zappos.com, which is a online shoe site. But I think there should be some questions asked and answer. First, TSA has a $6.3 billion budget and presumably most of that comes from the [...]

I tend to be somewhat libertarian on immigration. But even I have to admit there’s a problem here.

I filed a FOIA request this morning for Arne Duncans credit card statement. I’ll keep you posted on how things turn out. If you’re interested, here’s the letter.

After news yesterday that government officials are abusing their credit cards, the New York Times is quick to show it really does care about taxpayers. They editorialize today:
A pending Senate proposal would mandate such obvious precautions as regular audits by each department’s inspectors general, second-party approval of credit purchases, the denial of cards to workers [...]

If this were an isolated occurrance I probably wouldn’t be concerned much about it. But the fact is, this is as close to the rule as it is the exception.
Illinois Issues reports:
A controversial plan to shut down part of the Stateville prison in Joliet became just a bit more contentious after a packed meeting at [...]

Leslie Carbone reports.