By Steve Rhodes
Anne Kavanagh just appeared on Good Day Chicago promoting her interview tonight with Betty Loren-Maltese.
Kavanagh and a cameraman met Loren-Maltese at the California prison that just released her and drove her to the halfway house in Las Vegas where she must serve out the remainder of her term.
“We had just two-and-a-half hours to make the 200-mile drive,” a beaming Kavanagh said. “We made it with two minutes to spare. If we had been late, she would have been considered a fugitive.”
And Kavanagh would have been guilty of aiding and abetting.
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Kavanagh also held up a shawl that Loren-Maltese knitted in prison that she asked be delivered to a friend. And Kavanagh mentioned that she brought Loren-Maltese a wig at her request.
We also learned that she’s written a book that “names names” and is looking for a publisher. Perhaps Kavanagh has a suggestion.
Finally Dave Novarro recalled that what really struck him when Loren-Maltese went to prison was her crying over her daughter.
What really struck me during this pablum was how no one mentioned the federal racketeering and fraud charges for which Loren-Maltese was convicted.
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It reminded me of a recent interview of Scott Fawell and Andrea Coutretsis that dwelled on their kids and their love affair.
But damn those blogs!
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How good is your mainstream media?
Not very.
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And that’s the New York Times, also home to Alessandra Stanley, Judith Miller, Jayson Blair and pre-Iraq war coverage it had to apologize for.
Just think how much worse it is locally. Because it is.
And So It Begins
The Blago media blitz.
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My take on a few things missing from Blago’s book.
Today’s Olympic Reader
* A recipe for disaster.
* Fake accountability.
* The report that wasn’t.
* “We can certainly understand Billy Dec pimping himself out for Chicago 2016 Committee to perhaps help speed through his next liquor license application or to have the chance to kick it with some beach volleyball players,” Prescott Carlson writes at Chicagoist. “But Quentin Tarantino?”
Glorious Bastard
Speaking of Quentin Tarantino . . .
“I’ll crawl over barbed wire and eat turds to defend Quentin Tarantino, and I think I had to do that for Death Proof, so you’ll know I don’t count it lightly when I was initially tempted to call Inglourious Basterds Quentin Tarantino’s most original and least coherent film,” our very own Roderick Heath writes at Ferdy On Films. “His most original in that it plugs into a new current of creativity, sporting a finale quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. His least coherent in that although it sports scene after scene of intricately handled drama and humour, dynamic in its textures and incidents, it fails to add up to a grand and unequivocal whole.”
Pay Say
“The Obama administration’s ‘pay czar’ Kenneth Feinberg knows a thing or two about big paychecks,” the ABA Journal notes.
“Feinberg earned $5.76 million last year as a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Feinberg Rozen, Reuters reports. His assets, including two homes each worth more than $1.5 million, are valued at between $11 million and $37 million.”
Rickey U
State Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) appeared on Chicago Tonight last night to defend putting $40 million into the governor’s capital bill for a West Side campus that Chicago State University has neither asked nor planned for.
“Poppycock!” Hendon said.
Hendon said he’s been to meetings, a committee already exists, and “This story has been in the paper at least 10 times.”
Yes. But there is no plan and CSU didn’t ask for the money.
Shouldn’t there be a plan in place – even, you know, a budget – before money is appropriated?
“There is a planning committee that’s been meeting for two years,” Hendon said.
Yes. And they still don’t have a plan.
Hendon explained that he originally asked former Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago State) to pony up some dough. Jones only offered $10 million.
“You can’t even build a house for $10 million these days!” Hendon said.
“Well, I certainly hope you can,” host Eddie Arruza said.
“Well, you know what I mean,” Hendon replied.
Yes. To most of us, $10 million is a lot of money. Especially when it’s ours. But to you, it’s chump change. An insult.
Hendon added that he just wants a university on the West Side; he doesn’t care which one.
“If you want world-class institution why not go with one with a (better) reputation?” Arruza asked.
“Politics is the art of compromise,” Hendon said.
Yes, but aren’t we talking about higher education?
“If Chicago State does not want the money, I’ll be fine to go with another university,” Hendon said.
After all, he’s got $40 million burning a hole in his pocket. Let the bids begin.
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Beachwood U?
Horses, Geeks & Weirdos
Now on MeTV.
U.S. Open Fever
George Ofman’s got it.
Darkest Before The Dawn
“Some are losers who argue with the cashiers or leave home without using soap and water,” our very own Jerome Haller writes in I Am A Security Guard. “Some are thieves trying to catch me off-guard. Others are hookers, drunks and drug addicts. A few are lonely people who wander the aisles and finger merchandise without buying anything. They have nothing else to do with their time. On some nights, I have to dig deep for the strength to keep my cool.”
Schoolyard Fight
The University of Illinois is in dire need of adult supervision.
Street Smarts
The grid turns 100, but it’s the crooked streets that really make Chicago go.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Drop a dime.
Posted on September 1, 2009