By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

Last week, federal health officials celebrated two milestones related to the Affordable Care Act. The first, which got considerable attention, was that more than 7 million people selected private health plans in state and federal health insurance exchanges. The second, which got less attention, was that some 3 million additional enrollees had signed up for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (public health insurance programs for the poor), many as a result of Medicaid’s expansion.
But there are growing signs that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is a victim of its own success, unable to keep up with demand. While about half the states have refused to expand their Medicaid programs’ eligibility, among those that have, some can’t process applications fast enough.
Media reports from New Jersey, Illinois and California (states that have expanded their Medicaid programs) show that hundreds of thousands of consumers who may qualify for new Medicaid coverage aren’t getting it.

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Posted on April 10, 2014

By Jon Markel

Over the weekend I attempted to find all of the schools whose LSC voting districts I live within and ended up uncovering blatant incompetence in the ranks of the CPS central office.
Why does a simple exercise in the practice of representative democracy have to turn into a soul-crushing experience that has me wondering yet again how these people are in charge of educating Chicago’s children?

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Posted on April 9, 2014

By RT

“Boeing just gifted the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum $30 million, and for that, they are getting the main hall named after them.
“Boeing hasn’t paid taxes in years – they actually got a $199 million refund for 2013. They also lobbied in Washington for $15 million and received $20 billion in government contracts.”

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Posted on April 8, 2014

By Kara Brandeisky/ProPublica

Ten months after Edward Snowden’s first disclosures, three main legislative proposals have emerged for surveillance reform: one from President Obama, one from the House Intelligence Committee, and one favored by civil libertarians.
All the plans purport to end the bulk phone records collection program, but there are big differences – and a lot they don’t do. Here’s a rundown.

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Posted on April 4, 2014

**MEDIA ADVISORY**MEDIA ADVISORY**MEDIA ADVISORY**

WHO: President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee
WHAT: The President will be in town Wednesday, April 2, to host a roundtable at Chicago Cut Steakhouse. The roundtable will be hosted by Mesirow Financial Chairman and CEO Richard Price, benefitting the Democratic National Committee. Later that evening, the President will be hosting a dinner at the Lincoln Park home of Craig Freedman and Grace Tsao-Wu.
WHERE: CHICAGO CUT STEAKHOUSE
300 N. LaSalle Street
Chicago IL 60654

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Posted on April 1, 2014

By Charles Ornstein/ProPublica

One day very soon, the focus on Obamacare will turn from signing up new enrollees to quantifying the law’s success – or failure.
The six-month open enrollment period, during which consumers sign up for health plans under the Affordable Care Act, is supposed to end today. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as many states running their own marketplaces, are giving some extra time to consumers who’ve had trouble signing up.
It’ll probably all wrap up by April 15. Then, the final numbers will be tallied and the pronouncements will begin. Politicians on both sides of the aisle will use the same data to proclaim that they were right about the law.

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Posted on March 31, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

From his Chicago Tonight interview on Thursday.
*

Pat Quinn on Chicago Tonight just said the 2nd graders he was with today “seem to like my plan.”

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 28, 2014

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Posted on March 28, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

“Russia has pointed to America’s decision to go into Iraq as an example of Western hypocrisy,” the president said on Wednesday.
“Now, it is true that the Iraq war was a subject of vigorous debate, not just around the world but in the United States, as well. I participated in that debate, and I opposed our military intervention there. But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system.”
History says differently:
“The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared explicitly for the first time last night that the US-led war on Iraq was illegal,” the Guardian reported in 2004.
“Mr Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN security council or in accordance with the UN’s founding charter. In an interview with the BBC World Service broadcast last night, he was asked outright if the war was illegal. He replied: ‘Yes, if you wish.’
“He then added unequivocally: ‘I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal.'”

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Posted on March 27, 2014

By Bob Angone

During my 33 years as a Chicago Police Officer, one of the things I learned is that numbers play an important role in law enforcement. The biggest lesson was that numbers don’t lie but some people lie about numbers.
Here in Chicago, we hear about numbers almost on a daily basis as they relate to crime here in our city. Over the years on the job, I have served nine police superintendents, and each one had a different way of releasing numbers to the public. Through those years I have seen numbers inflated, ignored, exaggerated, manipulated, deflated and, yes, even made up.

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Posted on March 27, 2014

By The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The Reporters Committee, joined by a coalition of 38 other media organizations, filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week in support of a Patch.com reporter in Chicago who was ordered to testify about his confidential source in a murder trial.
Reporter Joseph Hosey was ordered to reveal the identity of the source who supplied him with a police report that contained details of the double murder. The judge in the trial court applied the state’s shield law to Hosey but nonetheless found that the privilege had been overcome, finding that the identity of the source was relevant, alternative sources had been exhausted, and the information was essential to protect the public interest.
Much of that finding hinged on the fact that the court made 500 law enforcement officials swear that they were not the source, and thus finding out if one of them was lying was “relevant” to the proceedings.

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Posted on March 25, 2014