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Revisiting Yummy Sandifer

By Steve Rhodes

The latest newscast from the Free Spirit Media teens included a comic/song montage about the horrible story of Robert “Yummy” Sandifer.
Now the good folks at MediaBurn have uploaded an episode of “Weekend TV” from September 1994, from the Fund for Innovative TV, about Yummy.
The description:
“Andrew Jones goes to the South Side of Chicago to investigate the murder of 11-year-old Robert Sandifer, who had been accused of killing 9-year-old Shavon Dean in their gang-infested Roseland neighborhood. Two brothers, Cragg and Derrick Hardaway, were arrested for the murder of Sandifer. Jones talks to family and friends about the tragedy of two murders of teenagers and how it reflects on our society.”

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Posted on January 27, 2016

T.J. Hooker: The Chicago Connection

By Steve Rhodes

Season: 4
Episode: 3
Heather Locklear: No
Release date: May 4, 1985
IMDB plot summary: “Hooker is sent to Chicago to pick someone who’s being extradited. But upon arriving a streetwise detective who needs the prisoner to help get a criminal he’s pursuing convinces Hooker to let him use the guy before he leaves. But something goes wrong and Hooker offers to help him get the criminal. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com.”
IMDB rating: 6.7

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Posted on January 12, 2016

Fight The False Holiday Travel Narrative!

By Steve Rhodes

Long-time readers (see the item Turkey Story) – and listeners – have read/heard me tell the story before of when the Tribune assigned me to cover the Thanksgiving traffic snarl at O’Hare one year and I feared for losing my job because there was no such thing. Well, the same thing happened to this WGN-TV reporter over Christmas. And probably most reporters given this ridiculous assignment most years.

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Posted on January 5, 2016