Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“Sandi Jackson assured her faithful supporters that she was still large and in charge as she signed off as the 7th Ward alderman Tuesday night,” Mary Mitchell writes for the Sun-Times.
“It was almost symbolic that Jackson, who commuted from Washington, D.C., to represent the South Side ward, said goodbye by telephone.”
It wasn’t almost symbolic, and it wasn’t even symbolic; it was fitting. She said goodbye the way she governed: From a distance.
Posted on January 17, 2013
By The Heartland Alliance
Happy new year to you and thank you for your support as we celebrate a fresh start this season! As we begin this new year, we’re also beginning a special celebration – Heartland Alliance’s 125th anniversary.
As we celebrate this fresh start, we at Heartland Alliance have an opportunity for a new beginning, and we’re taking it, rededicating ourselves to the core of our mission – ending poverty. Over these 125 years, we’ve found solutions that work – housing, healthcare, jobs, and justice – the foundation of a stable life. We renew our dedication not only to providing those services, but to the participants receiving them.
We hope you will enjoy this video that describes our work and the amazing people we serve every day.
Posted on January 15, 2013
By Cora Currier/ProPublica
You might have heard about the “kill list.” You’ve certainly heard about drones. But the details of the U.S. campaign against militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia – a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s national security approach – remain shrouded in secrecy. Here’s our guide to what we know – and what we don’t know.
Where is the drone war? Who carries it out?
Drones have been the Obama administration’s tool of choice for taking out militants outside of Iraq and Afghanistan. Drones aren’t the exclusive weapon – traditional airstrikes and other attacks have also been reported. But by one estimate, 95 percent of targeted killings since 9/11 have been conducted by drones. Among the benefits of drones: they don’t put American troops in harm’s way.
Posted on January 12, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
In four acts.
Pension Punt
“State lawmakers on Tuesday bequeathed the government worker pension problem to the next General Assembly, rejecting Gov. Pat Quinn’s roundly criticized ‘Hail Mary’ plan to ask a committee to fix the worst-in-the-nation retirement system,” the Tribune’s Rick Pearson reports.
That was Quinn’s sudden, last-minute idea to establish a base-closings style commission to solve the pension issue that he once declared he was “put on Earth” to solve.
It also marked the end of a “grassroots” effort to build support for a pension solution in part by drawing on an animated python named Squeezy.
Posted on January 9, 2013
By Cora Currier/ProPublica
A Senate committee is close to putting the final stamp on a massive report on the CIA’s detention, interrogation and rendition of terror suspects.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Select Committee on Intelligence, called the roughly 6,000-page report “the most definitive review of this CIA program to be conducted.”
But it’s unclear how much, if any, of the review you might get to read.
Posted on December 10, 2012
By Cora Currier/ProPublica
On Tuesday, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a yearly military spending bill.
Last year, the bill affirmed the U.S.’s authority to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely and without charges.
The provision had generated plenty of controversy, particularly about whether U.S. citizens could be detained indefinitely.
This year, the Senate bill says that citizens can’t be detained in the U.S. – but concerns remain about the scope of detention powers.
We’ve taken a step back, run through the controversy, and laid out what’s new.
Posted on December 7, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
Bill Daley described his nephew, R. J. Vanecko, as “basically a good kid” on Wednesday, and you know what? That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.
It’s also hard to square with the fact that Vanecko fled the scene after throwing the punch that killed David Koschman – and refused from day one to speak to police.
That’s not what a “good” kid does, even on the advice of a lawyer – not when a mother is grieving the death of her son.
Posted on December 6, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
So far it looks like Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez stands to come out the biggest loser in the Vanecko indictment, which is somewhat remarkable considering that she does not appear to have been involved in the original case – just the most recent chapter of the cover-up.
I suppose that’s because Richard M. Daley is no longer mayor, and Daley’s pal Dick Devine is no longer state’s attorney. Phil Cline is no longer the police chief, for that matter, so Alvarez is the biggest target left standing – Vanecko himself notwithstanding.
Alvarez is finally facing scrutiny of a sort for a series of bungles that have tarnished her tenure as the county’s prosecutor-in-chief. By the time the Vanecko case is over, that tarnish just might make her toxic.
Posted on December 5, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
The mayor’s oft-repeated declaration on Monday that CTA riders who don’t like increases in the multiday pass card fares is getting as much derision as the governor’s pension python. As well it should. Remember when it was Republicans who were cartoony and out of touch?
Posted on November 28, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
On Sunday the New York Times reported that the Obama administration, prompted by the possibility of losing the election, has been developing a “formal rule book” to govern the use of drone strikes, which have killed roughly 2,500 people under President Obama.
One aspect of the piece in particular caught our eye: While administration officials frequently talk about how drone strikes target suspected terrorists plotting against the U.S., the Times says the U.S. has shifted away from that.
Instead, it has often targeted enemies of allied governments in countries such as Yemen and Pakistan. From the Times:
Posted on November 28, 2012
