By Steve Rhodes
Let’s not reduce him to a wind-up toy. Plus: Do We Really Need More Police Officers? Neither Side Wants You To Know; The Many Problems Of Political Polls; and Rahm Vs. The Field.
Posted on January 25, 2015
Some Of The Youngest Learners Need Mental Health Treatment
By Margaret Ramirez/The Hechinger Report
When 3-year-old Julian started throwing tantrums in preschool, his teachers were unsure how to handle him. His screaming, inconsolable crying and violent outbursts soon escalated to the point where he threw a chair at a teacher. He was subsequently kicked out of the childcare program.
His mother, Angelica Pabon, knew the reason for Julian’s anger and aggression: A few months earlier, the young boy had witnessed his father being shot to death. To recover from the traumatic experience, Julian needed a preschool capable of working through his emotional problems while supporting his academic growth.
After a referral from a social worker, Pabon enrolled Julian at Erie Neighborhood House, one of the few early childhood programs in Chicago offering educational and mental health services for young children. There, he received close attention from teachers in a therapeutic classroom to control his anger. He also attended one-on-one “play therapy” sessions with a psychologist. That was six years ago. Today, Julian’s mother says, he is a 9-year-old doing well in fourth grade at a Chicago public school.
Posted on January 20, 2015
The Beachwood Radio Hour #40: Coffee With Rahm
By Steve Rhodes
Dark roasted and devious. Plus: My Jerky Throat; The U of C Screwed The Obama Library Pooch; John Fox Is The Fixer; Chuy Garcia Has Lost Me; and This Week’s Worst Journalist In Chicago.
Posted on January 17, 2015
To Close The Achievement Gap, Extra Hours In School Have To Be Better Hours
By Sara Neufeld/The Hechinger Report
As New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ushers in a huge expansion of after-school programs for middle schoolers, educators and advocates are debating whether the new programs are academic enough. How students and teachers should spend their time when kids are behind is among the most pressing and vexing questions in education today, and it’s one we have spent the past year exploring.
Related: NYC’s ramped up after-school programs offer safety, supper and sports
Our Time to Learn series has taken us from New York to Chicago, Detroit, Santa Ana and beyond. Examining the length and content of regular school days and after-school and summer programming, we’ve heard a common refrain of quality over quantity. In other words, if you’re going to give students more time to learn, it must be quality time if you want to get results.
Posted on January 16, 2015
Exclusive! Rahm’s Secret Plan To Save The Obama Library
Another Beachwood Special Report
* Rename the U of C “Columbia University.”
* Shift bid to Columbia College and hope for confusion.
* Ply selection committee with Bruce Rauner’s wine.
* Sorry, Lucas, we need that lakefront site back!
Posted on January 15, 2015
The Beachwood Radio Hour #39: Is Rahm Charlie?
By Steve Rhodes
There’s a difference between being against terrorism and for free speech – and everything that entails. Plus: I’ve Been Sick But Zeke Emanuel Has Not; Bloodshot’s Big Weekend; Inside Seinfeld; and Is Anita Alvarez Charlie?
Posted on January 11, 2015
ProPublica ‘Temp Land’ Investigation Nails Little Village Check Cashing Store
By Michael Grabell/ProPublica
Illinois regulators revoked the business license last month of a check cashing store featured in a ProPublica investigation of temp agencies and labor brokers in Chicago.
The revocation order is the latest in a string of government and legislative actions taken in response to a ProPublica series on the growth of temp work in the United States.
Illinois regulators said they learned of the store’s unlawful collection of fees from our story in April 2013.
According to the order, the 26th and Central Park Currency Exchange arranged a deal with a labor broker to funnel temp workers to its check-cashing business. Under the arrangement, the temp agency gave the workers’ paychecks to the labor broker who then brought them to the check cashing store. The store distributed the checks only after it had deducted fees for the broker and for its services, according to the order by the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Posted on January 9, 2015
The Beachwood Radio Hour #38: Lessons In Chicago Crime, Politics & Media
By Steve Rhodes
How Rahm Emanuel is both vulnerable and inevitable. Plus: Media Redlining; Cops vs. Civilians; and Convicted In Cook County.
Posted on January 6, 2015
MuckReads: How America Sucked In 2014
By Terry Parris Jr. and Hanqing Chen/ProPublica
Editor’s note: This is our year-end super MuckReads list. Since you have plenty to read through the holidays, our next weekly list of MuckReads will appear on Jan. 9. Thank you for reading.
Law Enforcement Steps Out Of Line
Beatings. Shootings. Broken bones. Since 2011, the city of Baltimore has paid $5.7 million to settle claims of false arrests, false imprisonment or excessive force by its police officers. In almost all of the largest payouts, local citizens were cleared of any criminal charges. – Baltimore Sun via @petesweigard
Posted on December 30, 2014
The Beachwood Radio Hour #37: The Rahm Referendum
By Steve Rhodes
Can politics by subtraction win? Plus: We Didn’t Start The Fire: The Most Emblematic Chicago News Story Of The Year. And: Book Plug: The Defender.
Posted on December 28, 2014