Sunday, August 07, 2011
Packs of 'fence-jumpers' rush Lollapalooza - Obama said it should be free!!!! We ain't paying!!!!
Lollapalooza organizers have said that instances of fence-jumping – music fans trying en masse to get through gaps in security without paying – are particularly high at this year’s festival.Indeed, at Grant Park this afternoon along Jackson Drive, packs of hundreds of teens could be seen roving the fringes of the festival, gathering themselves into groups of a dozen or two and rushing at openings in the fences and barricades, apparently testing security in the hope that a few among their ranks would make it through.
In most instances guards converged and chased them off. At one point, guards sprayed teens with a fire extinguisher, prompting cries of “It’s tear gas!” “Music should be free!” and “Book it!”
The teens dispersed in all directions. Soon however, their roving resumed, and the scene repeated.
Festival organizers say groups of up to 300 people have been spotted trying to storm the fences. This year’s event is the seventh time it has been held in Grant Park and a spokesman said there has been a steady increase in fence-jumping.
Most of the incidents were happening on the lake side of the park, along the stretch of the park just west of Lake Shore Drive.
“There are several reasons for this,” said Shelby Meade, a spokesperson for C3, the event organizer, in an e-mail message. “1. It is the longest and straightest side of the park and offers an almost unobstructed view of what area the jumper will be landing in. 2. Vehicles illegally stopping for loading and unloading of passengers offers great opportunity to breach the fence. 3. Security staffing along the Lakeshore fence line can easily be observed and thus avoided.”
Indeed, along Lake Shore Drive, packs of teens were seen mustering themselves into groups reaching into the hundreds and periodically stopping to shake the fence on the east side of the roadway for signs of weakness. When they found a gap, they ran across eight lanes of the drive and in most cases, were turned back by red-shirted guards on golf carts.
Smaller groups moved to the north and south, continuing to probe the perimeter.
“It’s not like there’s an exact plan,” said high school sophomore Simon Kafka, 15, of Chicago. “You just show up and figure it out when you get a chance.” Kafka told a reporter he had gate-crashed the previous two nights of the fest with large groups and seen Cee Lo Green and Eminem.
“I just want to be here for the mob today,” Kafka added. “I’m not that concerned about the music.”
So far the black plague has the following total for Chicago today: 4 Murdered and 16 Shot - And it's still daylight out here...
So far the black plague has the following total for Chicago today:
4 Murdered and 16 Shot - And it's still daylight out here...
It might as well be called Chicago's Bloody Sunday!
It might as well be called Chicago's Bloody Sunday!
8 Shot and Wounded at scene of West Side Ghettolicious Party
Four are shot and a short time later... Four more are shot!
Violence erupted during an outdoor party in the Garfield Park community on the West Side Sunday morning, leaving four people shot including a 16-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman.
It happened about 5 a.m. Sunday on the 300 block of South Springfield Avenue, and marked the second shooting of the morning in the same area that left four people wounded.
The first occurred at 2:28 a.m. and wounded four men nearby in the 4000 block of West West End Avenue.
In the latest attack, partygoers were outside at the Springfield address when an argument erupted among the guests. Someone who was involved in the argument pulled out a gun and fired into the crowd, striking the four people – a 30-year-old woman, a 16-year-old boy, a 30-year-old man and an 18-year-old man, police said.
All were hospitalized at Mount Sinai Hospital, where the 18-year-old man who was shot in the back was in serious condition. The other three were in good condition, police said.
Fire Media Affairs spokesman Quention Curtis said two of those shot “walked in” to Mount Sinai and he did not know their conditions but he put the conditions of two who were taken by ambulance as fair and good.
The shooter was not in custody as of 9 a.m., police said.
Harrison Area detectives are investigating.
Gun battle with cops leaves man shot in head, 3 cops and woman hospitalized
A man who was allegedly pistol-whipping his wife was shot in the head during an exchange of gunfire with police early Sunday in west suburban Maywood.At 1:27 a.m., Maywood police officers responded to a call from a woman who reported that she had been pistol-whipped by her husband in their home in the 2000 block of South 11th Avenue, according to a release from police.
Officers began trying to negotiate with the suspect, who is the husband of the victim. Once inside the home, Marion Brown, 40, allegedly fired a shot at police, who returned fire, the release said.
“An officer was struck in the (bullet –resistant) vest and police returned fire’’ said Police Chief Tim Curry.
Police then found Brown unresponsive with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head and he was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood in an unidentified condition, the release said.
Curry could not say as of 1:30 p.m. if police fired the shots that wounded the victim. A condition update on Brown was not available.
Two officers and a police supervisor were also taken to Loyola Hospital to be evaluated, according to the release. The officers, who are all men, were not physically hurt, but taken to be checked out, according to Curry.
The woman who suffered wounds to her head, did not have life-threatening injuries and she was also taken to Loyola, said Curry.
No other injuries were reported and children who were inside the home before the incident occurred were taken out, according to the chief. It was not known if the youngsters are relatives.
Curry said police have been to the home for “similar’’ incidents, but “nothing to this degree,’’ he said.
Because of standard protocol, the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force was called to review the incident, the release said.
No charges have been filed as of Sunday afternoon.
It's happening WORLDWIDE and the race war is coming... London police appeal to poor blacks for calm after riots, looting
When police can not even defend themselves without all the other welfare blacks rioting and looting the city... The good have lost and it's just a matter of time before everything collapses too
Blacks folks in London are rioting after police killed a black man:
Anarchy gripped parts of London on Saturday night as hundreds of rioters and looters set entire buildings on fire, launched fireworks at police and ran unchallenged through the streets with armfuls of stolen goods.
The riots began as a peaceful protest against the death of a 29-year-old man, Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was killed Thursday in Tottenham by officers from the Trident unit of the Metropolitan Police, which investigates gun crime, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, an external government body which regulates the police. News reports suggested that around 300 people had gathered outside the local police station by early Saturday evening.
But by 10:20 p.m. local time, the protest had turned violent. Two empty police cars were burned and officers were “subject to bottles and other missiles being thrown at them by the crowd,” according to a statement released by the police. Police said that eight officers had been hospitalized in clashes, one with head injuries. The BBC reported that ten other people had been treated for injuries and that nine had been taken to a hospital.
By 3 a.m., it appeared that parts of the riot zone had spiraled out of police control. An enormous fire raged in a blocklong building, with no sign of police or fire department intervention, even while residents raced to drive their cars away as the building’s windows exploded and glass rained down on them. Giant fires raged in allies, unabated.
The riot escalated into a pitched battle between lines of riot police officers, some on horses, and hundreds of mostly young black men, in small gangs of four or five, many with hooded sweatshirts pulled over their heads and bandannas over their faces. The young men arrived in clumps, on foot, by bicycle or on mopeds. Tottenham is an area of mostly poor minorities; a significant portion of the population is black. “How many black people have to die around here?” asked one of the youths, referring to Mr. Duggan. He gave his name as Pablo. “I hate the police,” he said.
Blacks folks in London are rioting after police killed a black man:
Anarchy gripped parts of London on Saturday night as hundreds of rioters and looters set entire buildings on fire, launched fireworks at police and ran unchallenged through the streets with armfuls of stolen goods.
The riots began as a peaceful protest against the death of a 29-year-old man, Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was killed Thursday in Tottenham by officers from the Trident unit of the Metropolitan Police, which investigates gun crime, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, an external government body which regulates the police. News reports suggested that around 300 people had gathered outside the local police station by early Saturday evening.
But by 10:20 p.m. local time, the protest had turned violent. Two empty police cars were burned and officers were “subject to bottles and other missiles being thrown at them by the crowd,” according to a statement released by the police. Police said that eight officers had been hospitalized in clashes, one with head injuries. The BBC reported that ten other people had been treated for injuries and that nine had been taken to a hospital.
By 3 a.m., it appeared that parts of the riot zone had spiraled out of police control. An enormous fire raged in a blocklong building, with no sign of police or fire department intervention, even while residents raced to drive their cars away as the building’s windows exploded and glass rained down on them. Giant fires raged in allies, unabated.
The riot escalated into a pitched battle between lines of riot police officers, some on horses, and hundreds of mostly young black men, in small gangs of four or five, many with hooded sweatshirts pulled over their heads and bandannas over their faces. The young men arrived in clumps, on foot, by bicycle or on mopeds. Tottenham is an area of mostly poor minorities; a significant portion of the population is black. “How many black people have to die around here?” asked one of the youths, referring to Mr. Duggan. He gave his name as Pablo. “I hate the police,” he said.
Detective Shavedlongcock's Photo of the Day: Knife Sharpener Man
Knife Sharpener Man on 111th Street by Mt. Greenwood Park
Once told she’d be a good secretary, McSweeney-Moore retiring after 17 years as judge
Between the last few preliminary hearings at the county courthouse in Bridgeview, Judge Colleen McSweeney-Moore knocked off warrants of folks arrested for missing court.
One young man was trying to get his bond forfeiture reversed. His lawyer claimed he mistook his date.
“Here’s your new court date,” she told the defendant, raising her voice so he’d be sure to hear it right. “You might want to write it down.”
For just a few more days, McSweeney-Moore will occupy this seat, presiding over bond court in Bridgeview. She’s retiring Wednesday after 17 years as a judge in Cook County, with plans to try criminal defense in private practice.
“There’s nothing like presiding over a trial with really great lawyers on each side advocating for their position, the judge doing her job, making correct rulings. That’s what it’s about,” said McSweeney-Moore, 56, in her chambers. “We’re involved in literally life-or-death situations.”
The daughter of a Chicago police officer and a stay-at-home mom of a large Irish brood, McSweeney-Moore took typing and shorthand classes at Bogan High School at 79th and Pulaski.
“I kind of like to think my career started in high school,” the judge said.
It was the ’60s, she said, an era when girls became homemakers or secretaries. An aptitude test she took indicated she should work at a law firm — as a secretary. She landed a good job after graduation as a legal secretary.
“I think because I was a girl I was steered toward secretary instead of a lawyer,” she said. “Then I decided I was on the wrong side of the desk, that I could do what they were doing.”
She got a degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, then the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. She landed a job in the state’s attorney’s office, already married with children.
She spent 11 years as a prosecutor, becoming the supervisor of the traffic division, and the first and only woman to supervise the 6th District in Markham.
In 1994, she ran for judge. Her first 11 years were at 26th Street, beginning in night drug court. In the mid-2000s, as her family moved from Chicago to the south suburbs, she transferred to Bridgeview.
As McSweeney-Moore steps down, she leaves a court system full of powerful women. Lady judges abound. The county’s chief prosecutor is a woman. Her elder daughter works in the state’s attorney’s office in the juvenile division, the younger is at John Marshall.
Lawyers who try cases before her say McSweeney-Moore runs an admirably tight ship. She tolerates no nonsense from attorneys who waffle or stall. She demands decorum. She yells at the unprepared and sloppy, earning the moniker “Judge McScreamy-Moore.”
“She’s intolerant of lawyers who lack professionalism,” said Peter Troy, Bridgeview’s head prosecutor. “She presides over the business of justice and demands no more of anybody else than what she demands of herself.”
Her demeanor makes lawyers better, said Joseph Barbaro, a defense attorney out of Palos Hills who met McSweeney-Moore when they both were state’s attorneys.
“When I knew I had a case in her courtroom, I was extra specially prepared because she did not tolerate being unprepared,” he said. “And because I had a certain respect for her ... I wanted to show her I knew my case and if she had a question I wanted to be able to answer it.”
Troy said McSweeney-Moore trained him in the traffic division, where he also started his career. So it’s apt she’ll have more time to teach law classes and trial workshops.
“The No. 1 thing I learned from her is to have confidence in yourself and in the position you take,” he said. “Listen to advice you get from people who have walked that trail ahead of you.”
Woodridge Illegal Beaner charged with killing Aurora man
A Woodridge man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of an Aurora man Thursday on Chicago's Northwest Side, police said.Miguel Vazquez, 26, of the 7900 block of Everglade Avenue, is facing first degree murder charges in the killing of Robert Solomon of Aurora.; He also was charged with cannabis possession. He was ordered held with no bond Saturday, according to records.
Solomon, 33, of the 400 block of Forest Avenue in Aurora, was shot in the chest and killed about 8:30 p.m. Thursday on the 4300 block of West Dickens Street in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood, police said. Solomon was on the sidewalk with several people believed to be in a local street gang, police said, when another group approached and one person took out a handgun and shot Solomon in the chest.
6-year-old little girl killed, two hurt in Englewood shooting
A 6-year-old girl was killed and two teenagers were injured in a shooting early this morning in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, police said.According to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli, the shooting happened about 6 a.m. in the 7400 block of South Sangamon Avenue. He said someone walked up to the front porch of a home in that block and fired shots inside, striking the 6-year-old, and a teenage boy and girl, both 17 according to fire department officials.
The boy was taken to John H. Stroger Jr., Hospital of Cook County and the girl was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, officials said. Both were in good condition, Mirabelli said.
No one is in custody. Police are investigating.
2 dead, 5 wounded in overnight shootings
At least two people are dead and five others wounded in separate overnight shootings in Chicago, police said.
A 16-year-old boy, identified as Marshaun Taylor of the 6900 block of South Bell Avenue by the Cook County medical examiner's office, was shot dead this morning about 12:35 a.m. on the 6900 block of South Oakley Avenue in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the city's South Side, said Police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines.
When police arrived at the scene, they found an unresponsive male with multiple gunshot wounds to his body, Gaines said. He was pronounced dead at 1:30 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to a medical examiner spokesman.
The second shooting death occurred about 12:48 a.m. when a man was shot in the chest on the 1500 block of West Jonquil Terrace on the Far North Side in the city's Rogers Park neighborhood. The victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 1:49 a.m. according to the medical examiner's office. The man has not yet been identified by the medical examiner's office; his age was given as being in his 50s.
In other overnight shootings:
Four men were wounded in a shooting about 2:28 a.m. on the 4200 block of West West End Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, according to a release from Chicago Police News Affairs. The four -- a 20-year-old and a 23-year-old both shot in the leg, a 25-year-old shot in the buttocks and a 32-year-old shot in the back -- were transported to Mount Sinai Hospital. No conditions were available, but police said they all had been stabilized.
Police said all four men were outside when they heard shots and felt pain, but no other details of the shooting were available.
About 12:20 a.m. on the 6800 block of South Bishop Street, a man was shot in his leg according to preliminary reports, Gaines said. The man was taken to Holy Cross Hospital. Police did not know his age or condition.As of about 4 a.m., no one was in custody for any of the shootings. Police are investigating.
Wisconsin State Fair: New rules helped keep peace - As black teens attack white fair goers
WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- Wisconsin State Fair officials say more officers and new rules helped keep things calm, a day after dozens of youths fought inside and outside of the grounds.
At least 31 people were arrested and at least 11 people were injured on opening night Thursday.
Fights erupted around 7 p.m. in the Midway area and spread into neighboring streets around closing time.
New rules were implemented Friday that require all people under 18 to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian in order to be admitted to the grounds after 5 p.m.
Gov. Scott Walker also ordered the State Police to help keep order and Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn promised additional officers.
Fair spokeswoman Patrice Harris tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Friday evening was violence free.
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Lollapalooza music festival turns into RoadKillPalooza as concert goers get ran over
2 struck by vehicle near Lollapalooza, seriously injured
Two men were seriously injured tonight when they were struck by a vehicle on Lake Shore Drive, just east of Buckingham Fountain and the Lollapalooza music festival.
Chicago Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene on Lake Shore Drive east of Buckingham Fountain about 8:45 p.m., said fire spokesman Quention Curtis.
Two men, believed to be in their 20s, were taken in serious-to-critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, he said.
Police said a single vehicle hit the two, and it was not a hit and run. No other information was available at this time.
ID released for bicyclist who died after falling under truck leaving the Lollapalooza music festivalA 25-year-old woman riding a bicycle was run over by a truck Friday night in downtown Chicago after losing her balance and falling underneath the truck, police said.
The dump truck was stopped at a stoplight at 227 N. Wabash Ave. about 10:45 p.m., according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli
Killed was Jacqueline Marie Michon, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. She was a Chicago resident, authoritities said.
Michon grew up in Michigan, then after college lived and worked in Los Angeles as a personal trainer with a motion-picture company, according to a biography on the website of a small fitness company she worked with. She moved to Chicago last year, according to the biography.
Wabash intersects with Wacker Place at that intersection; a little north is the intersection of Wabash and Wacker Drive. The truck was headed north, Mirabelli said.
The woman rode her bicycle between the truck and a 4-door sedan that was stopped next to it, then apparently lost her balance and fell, landing under the rear of the truck, Mirabelli said. Before the woman could get out from under the vehicle, the light turned green, the driver moved forward and the woman was crushed.
A citizen flagged down the truck driver, who stopped and was there when police arrived, Mirabelli said.
Video from the scene showed the truck stopped just north of Wacker Place, and the victim and her bicycle came to rest just south of Wacker Place.
Michon was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m. at the Cook County medical examiner's Stein Institute, according to the medical examiner's office.
The Chicago police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating, Mirabelli said.
Son of slain Chicago police officer Michael Bailey facing weapons charges - Arrested by Chicago Police
The son of slain Chicago Police Officer Michael Bailey appeared before a Cook County judge today on weapons charges, including unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a stolen firearm.
Michael Bailey Jr., 28, was arrested Friday, after police responded to a report of shots fired near the 7500 block of South Prairie Avenue in Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
Bailey, of the 2700 block of South Michigan Avenue, allegedly threw a pistol through the open rear passenger window of a parked car, according to court documents. Police recovered a Ruger .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun on the vehicle’s backseat.
The recovered weapon, which had four live rounds in it, was later discovered to be reported stolen, court documents said.
In court Saturday, Bailey’s attorney asked the judge for leniency. Bond was set at $10,000.
“This is a difficult and emotional time,” said attorney Jeanne Brown. “He is the son of slain Chicago police officer Michael Bailey, who died a year ago.”
Bailey’s father, Chicago Police Officer Michael Bailey, was gunned down in July 2010 just after he returned home from an overnight shift guarding then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s home.
Officer Bailey was still in uniform and cleaning his new Buick outside his Park Manor neighborhood home when a man approached and tried to steal his Buick or rob him, police have said.
Blacks are so CRIMINAL...We must now sign an agreement to sugar coat the news... HOW ABOUT THIS: HAVE THE FUCKING BLACKS STOP ACTING LIKE ANIMALS!
The Negro race won't change their criminal behavior or welfare life style... So let's make the news change the way they report on blacks and NOT MAKE THE BLACKS CHANGE THEIR WAYS... You got to be fucking joking!
TV news directors assess coverage of the black community -
Leaders consider value of crime news, access to black activists and other events
News directors for the city's three major local news networks are considering signing a joint agreement on coverage policies regarding Pittsburgh's black community as part of an effort to add positive messages to the news as an offset to crime coverage.
The idea was forwarded by WPXI-TV news director Mike Goldrick at the latest Black Political Empowerment Project summit on media portrayal of violence. More than 30 media and black leaders attended the summit Wednesday at the Channel 11 studios in Summer Hill to discuss -- and oftentimes vent -- about how the city's black community is covered by television, newspapers and radio.
"If the only information about black people is what's in the news, there's a reason why unemployment rate is astronomic and why we have all these negative issues -- because the imaging of black people is extremely negative," said BPEP president Tim Stevens. "Not only does it affect the viewpoint of white people with their thoughts on black people, I say it affects the psychology of black people."
Many attendees complained the main coverage of black Pittsburghers was at murder scenes or courthouses. "I'm tired of turning on the news and seeing a sister with her hair all over the place, five teeth missing and looking like she just stepped out of the bedroom. That's not something I want to see every time an African-American is interviewed on the news," one BPEP activist said.
News officials countered that they go wherever important crimes are, and don't choose coverage along race or neighborhood lines.
"We're not pursuing bad news. But look, if there's a shooting in Wexford we're going to go cover it. If there's a shooting in Homewood we're going to go cover a shooting in Homewood," said Alex Bongiorno, news director for WTAE-TV.
It would be easier for stations to cover other stories, said Mr. Goldrick and others, if black activists were better at communicating with newsrooms about events.
"There's a steady stream of information coming into our newsroom all the time. It's very easy for the negative to come in: We have police scanners, fire scanners and public information officers to let us know what's going on," he said. "We want to do positive news. Nobody wants to knock on the door and talk to the mom who just lost her son."
Activists and news directors at the session (including KDKA-TV's Anne Linaberger and KQV Radio's Frank Gottlieb) also discussed ways to educate community groups on communications, support internships and jobs, work together on multimedia projects and other efforts -- including the joint agreement by the city's news outlets -- all of which the group committed to work on further.
"The challenge that we have is to represent a community that is in fact divided in many ways," said Ron Porter, the facilitator of the two-hour summit meeting. "Our job is not to accentuate or accelerate the polarities but to identify the common ground."
Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Reportedly Kills Members of SEAL Team 6
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos. It was the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war.
A senior U.S. Military officials tell Fox News, "We don't believe that any of the special operators who were killed were involved in the Bin Laden operation." (He couldn't tell you they were involved even if he wanted to. The ones that killed Osama are top secret, even in death they must be protected.)
The Taliban claimed they downed the helicopter with rocket fire while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in the province of Wardak late Friday. It said wreckage of the craft was strewn at the scene. A senior U.S. administration official in Washington said the craft was apparently shot down by insurgents. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is still being investigated.
NATO confirmed the overnight crash took place and that there "was enemy activity in the area." But it said it was still investigating the cause and conducting a recovery operation at the site. It did not release details or casualty figures.
"We are in the process of accessing the facts," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Justin Brockhoff, a NATO spokesman.
One current and one former U.S. official said that the dead included more than 20 Navy SEALs from SEAL Team Six, the unit that carried out the raid in Pakistan in May that killed bin Laden. They were being flown by acrew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because families are still being notified.
President Barack Obama mourned the deaths of the American troops, saying in a statement that the crash serves as a reminder of the "extraordinary sacrifices" being made by the U.S. military and its families. He said he also mourned "the Afghans who died alongside our troops."
The death toll would surpass the worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 -- the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded. It was the highest one-day death toll for the Navy Special Warfare personnel since World War II.
With its steep mountain ranges, providing shelter for militants armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, eastern Afghanistan is hazardous terrain for military aircraft. Large, slow-moving air transport carriers like the CH-47 Chinook are particularly vulnerable, often forced to ease their way through sheer valleys where insurgents can achieve more level lines of fire from mountainsides.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday gave the first public word of the new crash, saying in a statement that "a NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province" and that 31 American special operations troops were killed. He expressed his condolences to President Barack Obama.
The helicopter was a twin-rotor Chinook, said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was receiving his information from an Afghan officer in Kabul.
The crash took place in the Sayd Abad district of Wardak province, said a provincial government spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid. The volatile region borders the province of Kabul where the Afghan capital is located and is known for its strong Taliban presence.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that Taliban fighters downed the helicopter during a "heavy raid" in Sayd Abad. He said NATO attacked a house in Sayd Abad where insurgent fighters were gathering Friday night. During the battle, the fighters shot down the helicopter, killing 31 Americans and seven Afghans, he said, adding that eight insurgents were killed in the fight.
There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year.
Most of the crashes were attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures.
However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25. Two coalition crew members were injured in that attack.
Meanwhile, in the southern Helmand province, an Afghan government official said Saturday that NATO troops attacked a house and inadvertently killed eight members of a family, including women and children.
NATO said that Taliban fighters fired rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire at coalition troops during a patrol Friday in the Nad Ali district.
"Coalition forces responded with small arms fire and as the incident continued, an air strike was employed against the insurgent position," said Brockhoff. He added that NATO sent a delegation to meet with local leaders and investigate the incident.
Nad Ali district police chief Shadi Khan said civilians died in the bombardment but that it was unknown how many insurgents were killed.
Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, is the deadliest province in Afghanistan for international troops.
NATO has come under harsh criticism in the past for accidentally killing civilians during operations against suspected insurgents. However, civilian death tallies by the United Nations show the insurgency is responsible for most war casualties involving noncombatants.
In south Afghanistan, NATO said two coalition service member were killed, one on Friday and another on Saturday. The international alliance did not release further details.
With the casualties from the helicopter crash, the deaths bring to 365 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 42 this month.
Very Terrible & Sad News - 31 young US Servicemen Killed in Helicopter Crash
Word is being leaked that this was the Navy Seal 6 Team that took out Osama Bin Laden...
One now has to wonder... Was this a plot to silence the men who captured and fatally wounded Osama Bin laden?
31 US troops killed in Afghan helicopter crash
A NATO helicopter crashed during a battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. soldiers and 7 Afghans, the Afghan president said today, a devastating toll and easily the worst single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.
_______________________________________
Godspeed to our nation's heroes and my deepest condolences and prayers to the family members, fellow soldiers and friends of these killed servicemen.
One now has to wonder... Was this a plot to silence the men who captured and fatally wounded Osama Bin laden?
31 US troops killed in Afghan helicopter crashA NATO helicopter crashed during a battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. soldiers and 7 Afghans, the Afghan president said today, a devastating toll and easily the worst single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.
_______________________________________
Godspeed to our nation's heroes and my deepest condolences and prayers to the family members, fellow soldiers and friends of these killed servicemen.
Maximum property tax hike sought for worse public school system in the nation, the Chicago public schools
Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard (a.k.a. The Overgrown Mandingo)claims former C.P.S. C.E.O. Ron Huberman drained the CPS money better than he drained the manjuices of the men he has been with!
Chicago property taxes that fund schools would be raised to the maximum allowed by law for the first time in four years — costing the average homeowner an extra $84 a year — under a proposed Chicago Public School budget released Friday.
To fill a $712 million deficit, the first budget outlined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new school team would hike property taxes by $150.3 million, cut spending by $320.7 million, and use $241 million in reserve dollars to keep the system in the black.
Faced with rising costs and the evaporation of one-time federal dollars, the budget marks the second year in a row that CPS plans to spend more than it takes in, a pattern experts call “unsustainable.’’ And, CPS officials concede, even grimmer days await three years from now, when a pension contribution waiver expires and the system’s pension tab will skyrocket.
Under the $5.9 billion spending plan, teachers and other union workers will lose a scheduled four percent cost-of-living increase worth $100 million, although three-quarters of teachers should get a raise of 1 percent to 5 percent for other reasons, officials said.
High schools are expected to give up 140 of a total 200 police officers, receiving $25,000 in cash for every cop they agree to forgo — a fraction of what CPS now pays for each officer. Thousands of kids could lose after-school clubs in math, science and technology. Seven schools with struggling would-be freshmen are losing funding for extra staff. Even elite college prep high schools will lose money for some positions.
Central office and middle-level management also will take a hit, although CPS officials and a consultant are still in the process of identifying how they will achieve $107 million in planned trims in those areas. But based on a month of work so far, said CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley, officials believe there’s lots of overlapping responsibilities between departments that are ripe for the budget axe.
Hundreds of layoffs are expected, but CPS had no specifics on Friday. Officials said at least 400 schools can avoid staff or program cuts by using discretionary money they have yet to spend.
The good news for parents is the spending plan will not raise class size in most schools, as was threatened last year. It manages to add 6,000 more all-day kindergarten spots and 2,300 new magnet ones.
Lise Valentine of the Civic Federation said she thinks most taxpayers will understand the need to raise property taxes to the max, adding an average of $84 in taxes to a typical Chicago home worth $250,000.
“I think they can understand the prioritization of class size and of trying to keep as many teachers as they can,’’ Valentine said.
“[Former Mayor] Daley wouldn’t be able to get away with that [kind of tax hike],’’ said Barbara Radner of DePaul University’s Center for Urban Education. But Emanuel “is so early in his reign, and had such a mandate, I think he’s the one person who can carry this off.’’
However, in some ways, Radner said, the spending plan is “going in the wrong direction.’’ Despite Emanuel’s public lobbying for a longer school day and year, the budget trims money for afterschool clubs and reduces by half the money allocated to “community schools” that offer after-school programs to both students and community members. In addition, it provides no additional money to pay for a longer school day or year.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the budget’s $87 million in school programming cuts will be “bad for kids.’’ In particular, she predicted that the elimination of a cushion of one or two extra positions for those schools who loose more enrollment than expected will lead to more split classes in elementary schools and fewer class choices in high schools.
The budget seemed to favor charter schools often touted by Emanuel over neighborhood schools, a “troubling’’ picture, Lewis said. CPS officials say charter schools took a four percent cut in funding last year, and to cut deeper this year would mean carving into core programs, rather than just the supplemental ones that are getting trimmed in neighborhood schools.
Public hearings on the budget are scheduled Aug. 10, 11 and 12, and school board members will vote on the spending plan Aug. 24.
__________________________________________
Det. Shavedlongcock:
They are doubling all the taxes in this state for the worse service in the country...yes, all these fucking fools continue to vote these stealing Democrats back into office... I can not wait for the whole state of Illinois to go belly up...
Chicago property taxes that fund schools would be raised to the maximum allowed by law for the first time in four years — costing the average homeowner an extra $84 a year — under a proposed Chicago Public School budget released Friday.
To fill a $712 million deficit, the first budget outlined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new school team would hike property taxes by $150.3 million, cut spending by $320.7 million, and use $241 million in reserve dollars to keep the system in the black.
Faced with rising costs and the evaporation of one-time federal dollars, the budget marks the second year in a row that CPS plans to spend more than it takes in, a pattern experts call “unsustainable.’’ And, CPS officials concede, even grimmer days await three years from now, when a pension contribution waiver expires and the system’s pension tab will skyrocket.
Under the $5.9 billion spending plan, teachers and other union workers will lose a scheduled four percent cost-of-living increase worth $100 million, although three-quarters of teachers should get a raise of 1 percent to 5 percent for other reasons, officials said.
High schools are expected to give up 140 of a total 200 police officers, receiving $25,000 in cash for every cop they agree to forgo — a fraction of what CPS now pays for each officer. Thousands of kids could lose after-school clubs in math, science and technology. Seven schools with struggling would-be freshmen are losing funding for extra staff. Even elite college prep high schools will lose money for some positions.
Central office and middle-level management also will take a hit, although CPS officials and a consultant are still in the process of identifying how they will achieve $107 million in planned trims in those areas. But based on a month of work so far, said CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley, officials believe there’s lots of overlapping responsibilities between departments that are ripe for the budget axe.
Hundreds of layoffs are expected, but CPS had no specifics on Friday. Officials said at least 400 schools can avoid staff or program cuts by using discretionary money they have yet to spend.
The good news for parents is the spending plan will not raise class size in most schools, as was threatened last year. It manages to add 6,000 more all-day kindergarten spots and 2,300 new magnet ones.
Lise Valentine of the Civic Federation said she thinks most taxpayers will understand the need to raise property taxes to the max, adding an average of $84 in taxes to a typical Chicago home worth $250,000.
“I think they can understand the prioritization of class size and of trying to keep as many teachers as they can,’’ Valentine said.
“[Former Mayor] Daley wouldn’t be able to get away with that [kind of tax hike],’’ said Barbara Radner of DePaul University’s Center for Urban Education. But Emanuel “is so early in his reign, and had such a mandate, I think he’s the one person who can carry this off.’’
However, in some ways, Radner said, the spending plan is “going in the wrong direction.’’ Despite Emanuel’s public lobbying for a longer school day and year, the budget trims money for afterschool clubs and reduces by half the money allocated to “community schools” that offer after-school programs to both students and community members. In addition, it provides no additional money to pay for a longer school day or year.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the budget’s $87 million in school programming cuts will be “bad for kids.’’ In particular, she predicted that the elimination of a cushion of one or two extra positions for those schools who loose more enrollment than expected will lead to more split classes in elementary schools and fewer class choices in high schools.
The budget seemed to favor charter schools often touted by Emanuel over neighborhood schools, a “troubling’’ picture, Lewis said. CPS officials say charter schools took a four percent cut in funding last year, and to cut deeper this year would mean carving into core programs, rather than just the supplemental ones that are getting trimmed in neighborhood schools.
Public hearings on the budget are scheduled Aug. 10, 11 and 12, and school board members will vote on the spending plan Aug. 24.
__________________________________________
Det. Shavedlongcock:
They are doubling all the taxes in this state for the worse service in the country...yes, all these fucking fools continue to vote these stealing Democrats back into office... I can not wait for the whole state of Illinois to go belly up...
3 charged in Oak Lawn home invasion - Welcome to Beautiful Oak Lawn Illinois
Photo: From left: Timmie "LiL Wee-Wee" Walton, Keon "Crusty Azz" Thigpen, Kennedy "Smelly Crotch" ClarkA judge denied bail today for three men charged with shooting a woman during a home invasion in Oak Lawn.
Timmie Walton, 27, of the 3300 block of West 147th Street in Midlothian and two Chicago men -- Keon Thigpen, 22, of the 300 block of South Albany Avenue and Kennedy Clark, 50, of the 1200 block of South Lawndale Avenue -- each was charged with attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping and home invasion for an attack that took place early Wednesday in a house on the 10100 block of Buell Avenue in Oak Lawn, according to a police news release.
About 12:15 a.m. the three men -- along with a fourth suspect who still has not been arrested -- grabbed two women from a front porch and forced them into a rear entrance of the home, where a male relative of the women fired two shotgun rounds at the attackers but missed, police said.
A 24-year-old female homeowner was shot in the arm by one of the attackers before they fled, apparently without taking anything, police said. The woman was treated and released from Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
The suspects drove off in a blue 2002 Ford Explorer and the three men were arrested after police pulled the SUV over near 61st Place and Harlem Avenue in Summit, while the fourth man was able to escape. Police had described him as being in his early 20s, at the time wearing jeans and a sports jersey with stripes.
One of the victims is a store owner in Chicago who was a victim of an attempted armed robbery in the same Oak Lawn home in November 2010, and police are looking to see if the two attacks are related, according to the Oak Lawn news release. Walton and Thigpen are members of the same Chicago street gang, police said.
The three men appeared in the Bridgeview Courthouse today, where bail was denied. Future court information was not available.
Friday, August 05, 2011
This time London - Blacks hunt down innocent white schoolboy and murder him... then celebrate their kill....
Shaking hands in celebration on a bus, Black thugs who had just hunted down a white schoolboy, 16, like a pack of animals and stabbed him to death
ABOVE PHOTO: 7 pieces of shit black murderers and the white victim they killedLeaning across the bus seat, these teenage killers shake hands in a sickening moment of self-congratulation.
One is heard to say to another: ‘You’re the new young boss.’
Just half an hour earlier they had been among a vicious gang who hunted down a schoolboy ‘like a pack of wild dogs’ before knifing him to death.
The teenager was pursued across a suburban park by his attackers, many of whom were still in their school uniform, before he was stabbed through the heart and collapsed in a shop doorway in front of his mother, Kim.
As the gang fled, they waved their knives in the air and shouted the name of the gang ‘triumphantly’.
The still from bus CCTV footage shows two gang members, then aged just 16, celebrating. Dale Green, who minutes earlier plunged a kitchen knife into Nicholas’s back, can be seen clasping hands with gang leader Lamarr Gordon in a ‘sickening gesture of approval and congratulation’.
Gordon – known as ‘Lamarr the scar’ because he had a scar from 23 stitches in his face – was heard to praise Green’s knifing, telling him: ‘You’re the new young boss’.
Another member Joseph Appiah, then 15, carried out a head count to make sure none of the gang – known as Shanks and Guns (shanks being slang for knives) – had been arrested after the attack in Sydenham, South London, in May last year. Other gang members had abandoned an armoury of weapons including knives and wooden poles in the park.
One is heard to say to another: ‘You’re the new young boss.’
Just half an hour earlier they had been among a vicious gang who hunted down a schoolboy ‘like a pack of wild dogs’ before knifing him to death.
The teenager was pursued across a suburban park by his attackers, many of whom were still in their school uniform, before he was stabbed through the heart and collapsed in a shop doorway in front of his mother, Kim.
As the gang fled, they waved their knives in the air and shouted the name of the gang ‘triumphantly’.
The still from bus CCTV footage shows two gang members, then aged just 16, celebrating. Dale Green, who minutes earlier plunged a kitchen knife into Nicholas’s back, can be seen clasping hands with gang leader Lamarr Gordon in a ‘sickening gesture of approval and congratulation’.
Gordon – known as ‘Lamarr the scar’ because he had a scar from 23 stitches in his face – was heard to praise Green’s knifing, telling him: ‘You’re the new young boss’.
Another member Joseph Appiah, then 15, carried out a head count to make sure none of the gang – known as Shanks and Guns (shanks being slang for knives) – had been arrested after the attack in Sydenham, South London, in May last year. Other gang members had abandoned an armoury of weapons including knives and wooden poles in the park.
Dramatic Video Shows BLACK Gunmen Firing Into Philadelphia City Bus
At least two gunmen fired into a Philadelphia city bus with assault rifles after a woman on board allegedly asked them to shoot at a passenger who criticized her for hitting her child.
Dramatic video obtained by MyFoxPhilly.com shows men with high-powered rifles firing into a Septa bus last month.
Prosecutors allege that Penny Chapman, who was riding the bus with her young son, became upset after a passenger sitting behind her criticized her for spanking the boy.
Chapman then made a phone call directing brothers, Karon and Raheen Patterson, to fire at the passenger when the bus arrived at her stop, prosecutors say.
Video taken from inside the bus shows other passengers, including a mother and her 4-year-old son, running for cover as bullets fly through the windows, MyFoxPhilly.com reports. It also shows an elderly woman who appears confused. The 80-year-old is seen dropping to the floor of the bus just moments before a bullet flies overhead.
"You see her very clearly because she doesn't actually see what's going on. She's sort of left standing in the middle of the bus as everyone has sort of separated all the way to the front or all the way as far as they could go to the back,” Morgan Model Vedejs, assistant District Attorney, told the station.
Four people, including the two brothers and the child's uncle, Angel Lecourt, will head to trial on Aug. 26, according to the station.
The bus was carrying 10 to 15 passengers at the time of the alleged shooting.
It is coming folks... sooner than you think... Large groups of blacks (200-300) attack whites at Wisconsin State Fair
Just got up, but got tips about this and decided to relay it here at Hot Air, since nothing seems to have been reported. I’ve heard accounts of 200-300 black youths beating and robbing people left and right at the opening day of the Wisconsin State Fair. There’s as yet minimal TV/print coverage(big surprise), but both Charlie Sykes on WTMJ and Vicki McKenna on WISN are reporting on the calamity, as are the news reports on the same stations. People have been calling in and giving eyewitness accounts, but I haven’t caught much of them yet.
According to WISN, neither the West Allis police, nor the Milwaukee police have any comment. Little wonder, given that there are a history of these sorts of attacks in Milwaukee in recent times. It just happened over the Fourth of July, after the fireworks in Milwaukee.
____________________________________
Now the mainstream reporting....of this incident!
Police Investigating Multiple Beatings Near State Fair Park
Several Law Enforcement Agencies Responded To Area Late Thursday Night
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE NEWS VIDEO
MILWAUKEE -- Local law enforcement agencies are investigating several incidents near State Fair Park late Thursday night.
Milwaukee police said that around 11:10 p.m., squads were sent to the area for reports of battery, fighting and property damage being caused by an unruly crowd of "hundreds" of people. One officer described it as a "mob beating."
Police said the group of young people attacked fairgoers who were leaving the fair grounds. Police said that some victims were attacked while walking. They said others were pulled out of cars and off of motorcycles before being beaten.
Milwaukee police said at least seven people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. They said that number could go up as other responding agencies release information.
Police said the incidents happened in various areas near the fair grounds, including near the intersection of 84th and Adler streets.
_________________________________
Of course not one mention of the FACT that attackers were BLACK! Not one mention that the BLACKS were attacking WHITES.... Fuck the media!
Black Flash Mobs Use New Tactics: Make their robbery victims strip and remove all their clothes
WAUKEGAN — It used to be you would lose your wallet and other valuables during a robbery. But now, in some cases, you may have to lose your clothes as well.There were two such cases in Waukegan recently where after being robbed the victims were told to remove clothing. The action apparently is a delay tactic because the victim has to get dressed before reporting the holdup to police.
“I’d assume it is to distract the victim,” said Waukegan Police Cmdr. Gabriel Guzman, noting that after talking to other officers, it does not appear to be a trend in the city.
“Other than the two (incidents), I know of no other robberies like that,” he said.
On July 24, two men reported to police that three men robbed them and made them undress before fleeing with their wallets and $3.
The men said they were walking down the alley at 7 a.m. in the 700 block of Walnut Street when a group of 16- to 20-year-old Negros approached them and demanded money.
The victims said they didn’t have any money and one assailant took out a gun and hit one of the victims with the butt of the weapon. After taking their wallets and $3, the man with the gun told them to remove their shirts, pants, shoes and socks before fleeing the scene, police said.
A resident reported July 24 he was inside his vehicle when he was approached by four males who ordered him out. They took his wallet and cellphone and ordered him to take his pants off. Then one assailant fired two shots in the air with a 22-caliber handgun. Police recovered two live rounds at the scene. The investigation is ongoing in both cases.
Police cautioned there really isn’t anything you can do as a victim other than comply, especially if robbers display a gun or other weapon.
Just like the government screwed up the whole Casey Anthony murder trial... Judge admits the whole probation deal is also a "MESS!"
Judge doesn't rule on Casey Anthony's probation issue, calls it 'a mess'
Chief Judge Belvin Perry heard arguments this morning on whether or not Casey Anthony should serve probation for a year in her check-fraud convictions or resume life without legal restrictions, even noting himself that the issue is "a mess."
Perry heard more than an hour's worth of arguments on the probation issue, ultimately saying he needed to do more research and wasn't sure what he would do.
"If anything could go wrong, it went wrong here," Perry said.
Defense attorney Jose Baez started the hearing by calling Susan Finigan, a Department of Corrections probation supervisor. Finigan confirmed they monitored Anthony while she was in jail. She said she's never heard of probation starting at an unspecified date and time.
Prosecutor Frank George also questioned Finigan and suggested probation isn't designed to monitor people who are in custody. Finigan said the purpose of probation is to protect the community.
She said it is not normal to serve probation in jail, except with individuals who have cases on different dockets.
"I would not say it's normal but it does happen on occasion," she said.
Perry asked Finigan about the issue of tolling, and also inquired if she contacted Judge Stan Strickland, the judge who originally handled the case and sentenced Anthony.
Finigan said she did not.
The legal matter stems from Casey Anthony's Jan. 25, 2010 convictions for check-fraud and related charges. At that time, Strickland sentenced her to time served in jail and one year of probation.
She was still held in jail at that time, however, awaiting trial on charges in connection with the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie. The state Department of Corrections applied Anthony's probation while she was in jail and terminated her probation on Jan. 24 of this year.
But Strickland has since stated that he intended for Anthony to serve her probation after her release from jail. That intent is supported by video and transcripts from Anthony's 2010 sentencing. The written order was not so specific, however, and lacked the language stating Anthony's probation should start "upon release" from jail.
Strickland amended his original order early this week to reflect his intent. And then Anthony's defense team filed a motion for a hearing to "quash, vacate and set aside" Strickland's order. Strickland also recused himself from the case and Perry took over the matter.
Perry heard other legal arguments from Anthony's defense team and questioned the attorneys on a variety of issues.
Defense attorney Lisabeth Fryer argued Anthony already served probation and that Strickland was disqualified. She argued the court doesn't have jurisdiction now.
In reality, though, Anthony did little to meet the requirements of supervised probation because she was in jail.
Perry read over the transcript from Strickland's sentencing, and confirmed the judge said probation would begin after she was released from jail.
Perry also noted that Strickland made that sentence long before he recused himself from the murder case.
Perry asked Fryer what obligation did Baez have to notify the court that Anthony's probation started and that it contradicted Strickland's order.
"I'll be the first to admit this is not a very clear cut issue," Perry said.
The judge also asked Fryer what should be done about a scrivener's error that went unnoticed.
"It's a mess," he said.
If Anthony is made to serve probation now, she would have many more restrictions and legal responsibilities placed on her, including regular reports to her probation officer.
George said the state believes it is bad public policy to serve probation while incarcerated.
But the state also finds that the Department of Corrections said Anthony has completed the probation, George said.
George argued the court can correct what amounts to a clerical error, and also said there's no jeopardy issue.
"The best I can say at this point is it is a legal maze," Perry said. "It is quite evident it is a legal morass."
Anthony did not have to attend this morning's hearing. Reports, photos and video have indicated she was in Ohio.
Chief Judge Belvin Perry heard arguments this morning on whether or not Casey Anthony should serve probation for a year in her check-fraud convictions or resume life without legal restrictions, even noting himself that the issue is "a mess."
Perry heard more than an hour's worth of arguments on the probation issue, ultimately saying he needed to do more research and wasn't sure what he would do.
"If anything could go wrong, it went wrong here," Perry said.
Defense attorney Jose Baez started the hearing by calling Susan Finigan, a Department of Corrections probation supervisor. Finigan confirmed they monitored Anthony while she was in jail. She said she's never heard of probation starting at an unspecified date and time.
Prosecutor Frank George also questioned Finigan and suggested probation isn't designed to monitor people who are in custody. Finigan said the purpose of probation is to protect the community.
She said it is not normal to serve probation in jail, except with individuals who have cases on different dockets.
"I would not say it's normal but it does happen on occasion," she said.
Perry asked Finigan about the issue of tolling, and also inquired if she contacted Judge Stan Strickland, the judge who originally handled the case and sentenced Anthony.
Finigan said she did not.
The legal matter stems from Casey Anthony's Jan. 25, 2010 convictions for check-fraud and related charges. At that time, Strickland sentenced her to time served in jail and one year of probation.
She was still held in jail at that time, however, awaiting trial on charges in connection with the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie. The state Department of Corrections applied Anthony's probation while she was in jail and terminated her probation on Jan. 24 of this year.
But Strickland has since stated that he intended for Anthony to serve her probation after her release from jail. That intent is supported by video and transcripts from Anthony's 2010 sentencing. The written order was not so specific, however, and lacked the language stating Anthony's probation should start "upon release" from jail.
Strickland amended his original order early this week to reflect his intent. And then Anthony's defense team filed a motion for a hearing to "quash, vacate and set aside" Strickland's order. Strickland also recused himself from the case and Perry took over the matter.
Perry heard other legal arguments from Anthony's defense team and questioned the attorneys on a variety of issues.
Defense attorney Lisabeth Fryer argued Anthony already served probation and that Strickland was disqualified. She argued the court doesn't have jurisdiction now.
In reality, though, Anthony did little to meet the requirements of supervised probation because she was in jail.
Perry read over the transcript from Strickland's sentencing, and confirmed the judge said probation would begin after she was released from jail.
Perry also noted that Strickland made that sentence long before he recused himself from the murder case.
Perry asked Fryer what obligation did Baez have to notify the court that Anthony's probation started and that it contradicted Strickland's order.
"I'll be the first to admit this is not a very clear cut issue," Perry said.
The judge also asked Fryer what should be done about a scrivener's error that went unnoticed.
"It's a mess," he said.
If Anthony is made to serve probation now, she would have many more restrictions and legal responsibilities placed on her, including regular reports to her probation officer.
George said the state believes it is bad public policy to serve probation while incarcerated.
But the state also finds that the Department of Corrections said Anthony has completed the probation, George said.
George argued the court can correct what amounts to a clerical error, and also said there's no jeopardy issue.
"The best I can say at this point is it is a legal maze," Perry said. "It is quite evident it is a legal morass."
Anthony did not have to attend this morning's hearing. Reports, photos and video have indicated she was in Ohio.
Gov Quinn says NO to this years tax holiday on back to school purchases!
Quinn raised the Illinois State Income tax almost DOUBLE
Quinn raised the corporate tax rate almost DOUBLE
Due to gas prices shooting up - Illinois gas tax has DOUBLED
But Illinois can't afford the back to school tax holiday that they did last year!
UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!
Illinois can’t afford another tax holiday
Attention, back-to-school shoppers:
There will be no sales tax holiday in Illinois this year.
With great fanfare, Gov. Pat Quinn held a news conference last year to announce he was signing legislation creating the first-ever sales tax holiday in Illinois.
“Back-to-school shopping can be expensive and difficult for families that are already struggling to make ends meet,” the governor announced in July 2010. “From Aug. 6 through 15 the sales tax holiday will boost Illinois businesses while helping every child in Illinois get the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom.”
Apparently, businesses don’t need a boost this year and children don’t need the state’s help to succeed in the classroom.
The Legislature did not pass a tax holiday bill, so there was nothing for the governor to sign.
A cynic might note that 2010 was an election year and 2011 is not.
State Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), who was a sponsor of the original tax holiday bill, told me Wednesday that Illinois simply can’t afford such generosity this year.
“We have $8.7 billion in unpaid bills,” Hutchinson said. “We’ve made unprecedented cuts in the state budget that are very painful.
“As much as I would like to help families and schoolchildren in Illinois, this is simply something the state cannot afford to do this year.”
I noted that last year the state was not only drowning in red ink, but had yet to pass a 67 percent income tax hike. Still, the Legislature thought the sales tax holiday was a good idea.
“Sometimes you do things for political reasons that are not good public policy reasons,” Hutchinson said.
I give Hutchinson high marks for honesty. Most politicians wouldn’t have answered that question in such a direct manner.
“When they (legislative leaders) came to me last year and asked me to carry this bill, I thought it would be a good thing to do to help people who were struggling in this economy and had children in school,” Hutchinson said.
“I have since learned a lot more about the budget process, and as much as I would like to help people with children in school again this year, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Hutchinson said she has three children in public schools herself and is facing fees of $320 “for each kid” just to enroll them.
She said she realizes expenses hit families hard at this time of year.
“It’s gotten to the point where my husband and I plan for August the way we do for Christmas,” Hutchinson said.
“You know your family budget is going to take a big hit and you save for it.”
Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue, said the state estimates that consumers spent $323 million on school supplies during last year’s 10-day tax holiday, for a sales tax savings of $16 million.
That’s far short of the $60 million in savings some politicians were predicting when the bill waiving the 5 percent state share for sales tax for school supplies passed.
As for the business stimulus the legislation was supposed to create, Hutchinson said, “After studying some of the figures on tax holidays, I’m not sure people spend more. I just think it impacts when people spend instead of how much they spend.”
Some of the people who complained to me about the lack of a sales tax holiday this year said they were under the impression it would be an annual event.
I can’t find any comments by public officials that could be interpreted in that way.
But once you give people a tax break, they tend to expect it again and again.
Hutchinson said people tend to be unreasonable when discussing the state’s financial situation.
“There are people who say we shouldn’t borrow more to pay our unpaid bills,” Hutchinson said.
“But we’re already borrowing that money by refusing to pay the vendors, the small businessmen, the nonprofits who have contracted with the state to provide their services.
“When we refuse to pay them for those services, we’re borrowing that money to run the government.
“And that forces them to cut their payroll and increase the number of unemployed people in Illinois. In some cases, it forces them to go out of business entirely.
“That’s not fair. It’s not right. But Illinois is borrowing at their expense and some people want to call it something else.”
As for the income tax increase passed earlier this year, Hutchinson said, “No one could reasonably expect that money to cover the $15 billion budget hole this state was facing.”
No one who understood the extent of the financial problem expected that, but for years Illinois governors and lawmakers played games with the budget and that probably had something to do with the public being misinformed or uninformed.
There shouldn’t have been any tax holiday last year. But it sure was a popular idea.
And that’s all anyone cared about at the time.
Quinn raised the corporate tax rate almost DOUBLE
Due to gas prices shooting up - Illinois gas tax has DOUBLED
But Illinois can't afford the back to school tax holiday that they did last year!
UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!
Illinois can’t afford another tax holiday
Attention, back-to-school shoppers:
There will be no sales tax holiday in Illinois this year.
With great fanfare, Gov. Pat Quinn held a news conference last year to announce he was signing legislation creating the first-ever sales tax holiday in Illinois.
“Back-to-school shopping can be expensive and difficult for families that are already struggling to make ends meet,” the governor announced in July 2010. “From Aug. 6 through 15 the sales tax holiday will boost Illinois businesses while helping every child in Illinois get the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom.”
Apparently, businesses don’t need a boost this year and children don’t need the state’s help to succeed in the classroom.
The Legislature did not pass a tax holiday bill, so there was nothing for the governor to sign.
A cynic might note that 2010 was an election year and 2011 is not.
State Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), who was a sponsor of the original tax holiday bill, told me Wednesday that Illinois simply can’t afford such generosity this year.
“We have $8.7 billion in unpaid bills,” Hutchinson said. “We’ve made unprecedented cuts in the state budget that are very painful.
“As much as I would like to help families and schoolchildren in Illinois, this is simply something the state cannot afford to do this year.”
I noted that last year the state was not only drowning in red ink, but had yet to pass a 67 percent income tax hike. Still, the Legislature thought the sales tax holiday was a good idea.
“Sometimes you do things for political reasons that are not good public policy reasons,” Hutchinson said.
I give Hutchinson high marks for honesty. Most politicians wouldn’t have answered that question in such a direct manner.
“When they (legislative leaders) came to me last year and asked me to carry this bill, I thought it would be a good thing to do to help people who were struggling in this economy and had children in school,” Hutchinson said.
“I have since learned a lot more about the budget process, and as much as I would like to help people with children in school again this year, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Hutchinson said she has three children in public schools herself and is facing fees of $320 “for each kid” just to enroll them.
She said she realizes expenses hit families hard at this time of year.
“It’s gotten to the point where my husband and I plan for August the way we do for Christmas,” Hutchinson said.
“You know your family budget is going to take a big hit and you save for it.”
Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue, said the state estimates that consumers spent $323 million on school supplies during last year’s 10-day tax holiday, for a sales tax savings of $16 million.
That’s far short of the $60 million in savings some politicians were predicting when the bill waiving the 5 percent state share for sales tax for school supplies passed.
As for the business stimulus the legislation was supposed to create, Hutchinson said, “After studying some of the figures on tax holidays, I’m not sure people spend more. I just think it impacts when people spend instead of how much they spend.”
Some of the people who complained to me about the lack of a sales tax holiday this year said they were under the impression it would be an annual event.
I can’t find any comments by public officials that could be interpreted in that way.
But once you give people a tax break, they tend to expect it again and again.
Hutchinson said people tend to be unreasonable when discussing the state’s financial situation.
“There are people who say we shouldn’t borrow more to pay our unpaid bills,” Hutchinson said.
“But we’re already borrowing that money by refusing to pay the vendors, the small businessmen, the nonprofits who have contracted with the state to provide their services.
“When we refuse to pay them for those services, we’re borrowing that money to run the government.
“And that forces them to cut their payroll and increase the number of unemployed people in Illinois. In some cases, it forces them to go out of business entirely.
“That’s not fair. It’s not right. But Illinois is borrowing at their expense and some people want to call it something else.”
As for the income tax increase passed earlier this year, Hutchinson said, “No one could reasonably expect that money to cover the $15 billion budget hole this state was facing.”
No one who understood the extent of the financial problem expected that, but for years Illinois governors and lawmakers played games with the budget and that probably had something to do with the public being misinformed or uninformed.
There shouldn’t have been any tax holiday last year. But it sure was a popular idea.
And that’s all anyone cared about at the time.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
The government should just place a $100.00 bounty on every severed head of a Gypsy! Elderly brother, sister robbed of $6,000 by apparent Gypsies
An elderly Oak Forest brother and sister were robbed Thursday of $6,000 by an apparent con man Gypsy, police said.A collection of old $10 and $20 bills printed in the 1920s and 1930s valued at $4,000 also were stolen from a bedroom dresser after the victims were lured into the basement of their home, police said.
The incident occurred at 2:50 p.m. when a man driving a red sport utility vehicle pulled into the driveway of the siblings’ home in the 15100 block of Crescent Green, police said.
The man told the 90-year-old woman and her 88-year-old brother that he was working on a neighboring house and needed access to their electrical outlets, police said.
The man and the victims went into the basement to check the outlets. They said he seemed to make small talk in an attempt to waste time. When he received a call on his cell phone, he left the basement.
The man was gone by the time the victims made it up the stairs, police said.
The brother told police he thought he saw a passenger in the SUV.
New owner vows that Simma's Bakery in Wauwatosa won't change
Yes, the only reason I am posting this news story is because I am a sucker for a woman in a baseball cap with a pony tail! Damn! I love that!
Photo: Irina Yundov puts together a wedding cake at Simma’s Bakery. The daughter of the bakery’s founder, Yundov has sold the business to Mark Carollo, the owner of Croissant Inc., after owning the bakery for nearly 20 years.Wauwatosa - Not to worry: The new owner of Simma's Bakery says the longtime Wauwatosa fixture won't change.
Not one bit.
"If you're looking to buy, why wouldn't you want the top retail bakery?" said Mark Carollo of Croissant Etc., a food wholesaler and manufacturer, who bought Simma's last week. "Why change anything if it's running so well?"
Carollo said he bought the store at 817 N. 68th St. for its name, reputation and staff. Simma's is widely known for its wedding cakes, pastries and assorted other treats.
Carollo said he has been looking to expand his business through an acquisition for a long time and had been courting Simma's for about three months before the purchase.
"I want to continue on the success it has had," he said.
Carollo stressed that there would be no difference in the company, and that the owner, Irina Yundov - daughter of the bakery's founder, Simma Yundov - will stay with the bakery for the next year to help ease the transition.
"Because of the brand, the reputation, the awards that Simma's has . . . I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize the success it has had," he said.
Yundov, 41, who has owned and operated the store for 20 years, was ready to sell.
"I felt like I wasn't as passionate about this bakery as I needed to be. I felt like it deserved a passionate owner that was going to grow it and move it up even further," said Yundov.
She wanted to find a buyer who could continue to grow the business, but maintain and preserve the name and quality already established over a 30-year history.
"I felt like I did everything I could for the brand, the name, and the employees," she said.
The front display case of Simma's presents a visual spectacle to visitors. Spread across the front counter is an array of twisted pastry creations and towering white wedding cakes. The back kitchen caresses the senses with the moist smell of sweets.
The acquisition, first reported Thursday on the OnMilwaukee.com website, will allow Carollo to find new ways of packaging and selling his products. The bakery will add purchasing power and could help him leverage deals to better benefit both his businesses.
"Maybe there are some items I can cross-sell," he said.
Croissant Etc., of Greendale, sells frozen items exclusively, but Carollo said he is still feeling out ways that he can package products and combine elements of both companies to increase distribution and decrease costs. He would have to assess what could be transported with the items from Simma's.
Carollo has ambitions to expand the business, but he doesn't want to overdo it right away.
"I plan on staying where we are and we'll see how things develop in the future," he said. "Until the dust settles … I am not planning on moving its location, or expanding to a second or third location."
Simma's, which has 35 employees, will retain all of them - Carollo believes they are one of the primary strengths of the bakery.
"I feel like the business almost has a life of its own," said Yundov. "As an owner you have to let it move in whatever direction it needs to go into."
500-point Dow plunge is worst since 2008 as Obama has a $35,000.00 a ticket birthday bash!
There were few places for money to hide Thursday as stock prices came hurtling down.The steepest drop since the meltdown era of 2008 spared no sector in the stock market. Commodities were no good as a safe haven and even gold and silver, favorites of the pessimists, sustained losses too.
On a day that recorded the highest trading volume in more than a year, the major stock indexes fell by 4 percent to 5 percent, building on earlier losses in Europe. The rout eliminated any gains this year, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 512.76 points, 4.3 percent, to 11,383.68.
Traders struggled to find a metaphor — dams bursting, straws breaking camels’ backs. All were trying to describe a collection of worries that finally burst to the forefront. They range from sovereign debt in Europe to renewed signs of a sickly economy at home, with skepticism about the U.S. government’s debt hanging over all like a cloud.
“Put it all together and you get an environment where you reduce risk,” said Howard Simons, market strategist at Bianco Research LLC. “You might want to buy, but you’ll get run over. It’s a classic washout kind of a day.”
Headlines from overseas heightened suspicions that Spain and Italy were on their way to join Greece and Portugal as economic basket cases.
On tap for today is the federal government’s report of the jobless rate for July. “That’s the kind of number that could change the momentum or send us into a crash,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at the brokerage PFGBEST.
After finding brief support in the minus-350 point range, the Dow lost another 150 points in the final hour of the session Thursday and closed just above the day’s lows.
In the stock and options exchanges, traders smelled fear. The popular “fear gauge,” the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, rose 35 percent to reach 31.66. The index, developed by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, uses option prices to project volatility in Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks.
Is there any good news? Try this:
Treasury prices rose as investors crowded into bonds, and that caused already low interest rates to slip more. That helps bond holders, while consumers get a lift because it holds down rates on loans. The average national rate on a 15-year mortgage is 3.54 percent, a record low.
Any easing of commodity prices will improve corporate profits and, perhaps, hiring.
And the concerns about the global economy have sent oil prices down 13 percent over seven straight trading days. It hit a six-month low Thursday and a barrel for September delivery closed at $86.63 in New York trading.
Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at Oil Price Information Service, said oil’s pullback should translate into savings of 20 cents to 35 cents per gallon at the pump.
Thursday’s selloff caused whispers of a big Wall Street word: capitulation. It’s the term for a brutal day that gets all the selling pressure out of the system and lets markets return to a balance between fear and greed.
Marshall Front, chairman of the investment firm Front Barnett Associates LLC, said if Thursday wasn’t a selling catharsis, it’ll come soon. But he said stocks have become oversold by any standard and that his clients want to buy and not run.
“We’ve begun to do some nibbling at stocks we’ve liked for a long time. The valuations look cheap,” Front said.
The S&P 500 index fell 60.27 points, 4.8 percent, to 1,200.07 and the Nasdaq composite index lost 136.68 points, 5.1 percent, to 2,556.39.
Capitulation? Maybe. But another description is dead-on accurate: correction. All the major indexes are down more than 10 percent from recent highs in July, meeting the official definition of a correction.
Volume on all markets totaled more than 14 billion shares.
All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 saw price declines and for a time, Kraft Foods was the only component of the Dow 30 industrials to post a gain. But by the session’s end, Kraft, which had announced it was splitting itself in two, fell 52 cents to $33.78.
Kraft’s breakup eventually would force a change in the Dow lineup.
Gold briefly hit a record high, then settled $7.30 lower for the day at $1,659 an ounce. Silver lost $2.327 to $39.431 an ounce.
Brian Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust Advisors LP, said the selloff indicates no fundamental change of direction and that stocks are cheap. He noted that companies in the S&P 500 that have reported second-quarter earnings so far are reporting 20 percent higher profits from a year ago.
PFGBEST’s Flynn, however, was unconvinced. “Bad economic numbers have made people realize that the economy is not as strong as some of the S&P earnings would have you believe,” Flynn said.
U.S. sues Joliet in housing complex battle - Joliet attempts to get 765 freeloading non-working blacks out of their town....
Attempts by Joliet to condemn a low-income housing complex would push poor African-Americans out of town, a civil lawsuit filed Thursday by the U.S. attorney general alleges.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago against Joliet, further complicates a six-year legal battle involving city efforts to redevelop Evergreen Terrace, a complex of about 765 primarily African-American residents located just west of downtown Joliet.
"We welcome the lawsuit," said City Manager Tom Thanas. "We'll have a neutral party resolving the dispute and assessing the facts, and we believe the neutral party will see that the city's interest in protecting the residents' right should prevail."
The lawsuit alleges Joliet has violated federal housing laws, but Thanas said the city agrees with the federal government's efforts to provide affordable housing in Joliet. He said the city has long planned to redevelop the site for affordable housing and to assist with the relocation of residents.
City officials have called Evergreen Terrace blighted and a magnet for crime and put aside $3.5 million for redevelopment.
The lawsuit claims that "the city has no meaningful plan to provide such affordable housing on a similar scale elsewhere in the city." The lawsuit asks a judge to halt the condemnation unless Joliet "develops and implements a plan providing for adequate and affordable housing for those persons who would be displaced."
Evergreen Terrace, which receives federal subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is managed by Burnham Management Co. The company's president, Jake Paschen, could not be immediately reached Thursday.
Tom Hecht, attorney for the investment groups that own Evergreen Terrace, New West Limited Partnership and New Bluff Limited Partnership, said he is pleased with the lawsuit.
"We firmly believe the allegations in the complaint are accurate and will be sustained by the court and by a jury," Hecht said. "Our hope this can be resolved quickly."
There are three pending federal lawsuits related to the case. In 2009, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has twice ruled on the Evergreen Terrace case, found that the law was on the city's side, but named several exceptions, including racial discrimination.
"If Joliet thinks that a given parcel of land should be put to a public use, such as a park, and is willing to foot the bill, it is hard to see any obstacle in federal law," Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote.
But the decision also said that "a state or local government is not free to use its powers in order to discriminate against persons of a particular race."
America's Bar Charity Golf Outing - August 23rd - For Autism
$10,000.00 Hole In One Contest!
Clicking on any image will enlarge that image.
Breaking News Desk: Report: 2 Phoenix police officers shot and wounded in shootout
PHOENIX (KPHO) - Two Phoenix police officers and a carjacking suspect were wounded in a shootout at 61st and Virginia Avenues this morning.
One officer reportedly suffered a wound to an arm, the other a superficial wound to the head in the shooting after a carjacking went bad around 10:05 a.m., according to the Phoenix Police Department. No wounds were described for the suspect, who was in custody.
There was no word on the condition of either officer or the suspect.
Thanks to one of my most loyal and dedicated viewers... Arizona Eagle...
Hope to make it out to Arizona soon!
UPDATE:
PHOENIX - Two Phoenix police officers have been shot in a confrontation with a suspect who also was wounded.
It all started when the officers tried stopping a man on a bike at a park near 61st Avenue and Virginia.
Police say the man took off, rode to a stranger's driveway, then pulled out a gun and fired at the officers.
The man then went into the unlocked house and demanded keys from the 63-year-old homeowner.
"Some guy entered the house and was shooting that's all I know and I just dropped the phone and came running," says Monica Heiselman, homeowner's daughter.
When the suspect exited the home, officers and the suspect exchanged gunfire.
Phoenix fire Capt. Troy Caskey says the two officers were taken to local hospitals around 10:30 a.m. Thursday with non-life-threatening injuries.
He says one officer was grazed by a bullet in the head, while the other was shot in the arm.
The suspect involved in the shooting, a man in his mid-30s, was taken to the hospital with life-threatening wounds from being shot several times by police.
"The thing that people need to understand is that that graze wound was literally inches from being a fatal gunshot, so they literally were in the jaws of death in this encounter," says Phoenix Police Sgt. Tommy Thompson.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Celebrates Tent City's 18th Anniversary - Calls Sheriff Tom Dart a puppy screwing liberal cross-dresser
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Celebrates Tent City's 18th Anniversary: MyFoxPHOENIX.com
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Celebrates Tent City's 18th Anniversary
PHOENIX - It's the 18th anniversary of Tent City's opening on Wednesday, and there's a big celebration planned.
Tent City, known as the nation's largest canvas incarceration compound, houses men, women and suspected illegal immigrants.
In 1992, Sheriff Joe Arpaio promised the residents of Maricopa County that he would house convicted criminals in army surplus/donated Korean War tents.
Nearly half-a-million people have served their sentences there.
This year, a gift from the community and Fulton Homes was given to Arpaio.
It's an engraved tombstone-like marker which inmates will erect at the spot where in 1993, Arpaio, at high noon and in 111 degree heat, first announced the opening of the controversial alternative housing project.
The granite marker is engraved with the name of the facility, its opening date, the Office logo and the Sheriff's name.
The Department of Justice, Amnesty International, and the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized Arpaio for the harsh conditions under which they say inmates are forced to live.
Arpaio has always responded the same way, saying that U.S. military troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are housed in tents in similar conditions.
A stage is being set up for a detention officer posing as an Elvis impersonator, and cake will be served to the inmates.
Arpaio has also had inmates make hundreds of pink Sheriff Joe fans to keep everyone cool.
_____________________________
Thanks to Terry T for this submission....
NY DAILY NEWS has images of 48 celebrities after their plastic surgeries... My question is...THEY PAID MONEY TO HAVE THIS DONE?
Plastic surgery gone wild! Self-improvement turns into self-mutilation for these stars
Nipped, tucked, sucked. Here's what Hollywood doesn't hear enough of: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS AND SEE THE IMAGES OF THESE CELEBRITIES
10 LAPD officers sue, saying department has traffic-ticket quotas
Ten Los Angeles motor officers have sued the city alleging that their supervisors retaliated against them for resisting traffic-ticket quotas, according to a court filing reviewed Thursday.
Attorneys for officers Philip Carr, Timothy Dacus, Kevin Cotter, Peter Landelius, Kevin Ree, Kevin Riley, Josh Sewell, Vincent Stroway, James Wallace and Jason Zapatka -- all of the West Traffic Division -- filed suit a week ago in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Among their allegations is that LAPD supervisors punished them for refusing to follow orders to implement traffic ticket quotas. They also allege that the amount of traffic tickets they produced was the basis for an illegal comparison among fellow West Traffic Bureau motor cops.
The punishments included being denied overtime and other unspecified benefits, as well as being given negative performance reviews.
The LAPD did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Ticket quotas are illegal under state law, since they can pressure police to write spurious tickets to meet the goal. The line between setting a quota and pushing officers to increase their productivity is a delicate one for field supervisors, who are often under pressure themselves to generate more citations.
In April, a jury awarded a pair of veteran LAPD officers -- also assigned to West Traffic Bureau -- $2 million after determining that LAPD supervisors had retaliated against the officers for complaining about alleged traffic ticket quotas.
Howard Chan and David Benioff, both veteran motorcycle officers with the department's West Traffic Division, sued the department in 2009, alleging that they had been punished with bogus performance reviews, threats of reassignment and other forms of harassment after objecting to demands from commanding officers that they write a certain number of tickets each day, according to the civil action.
That case dates back to late 2006, when command of the traffic division was handed over to Capt. Nancy Lauer. Chan and Benioff alleged in their lawsuit that Lauer and her sergeants and lieutenants made it clear to officers that they were expected to write at least 18 tickets each day. The number of tickets an officer wrote was recorded on their performance evaluation, the suit alleged.
The officers said that supervisors ranked them against other officers based on the number of tickets they wrote and cars they impounded, which is also a violation of state law.
Attorney Shaun Dabbe Jacobs, who argued the case for the city, tried to persuade jurors that the department had simply established broad goals rather than specific quotas, and that supervisors were trying to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities.
The officers testified they were ordered to scrap regular patrol assignments and sent instead to specific streets where they were more likely to catch motorists committing moving violations. Though not illegal, being sent to those so-called "orchards" or "cherry patches," they said, reinforced the belief that hitting ticket targets trumped other aspects of the job.
Attorney Gregory Smith, one of the attorneys representing the 10 officers and who also prevailed in court on behalf of Chan and Benioff, had no immediate comment on the case.
Mayor Daley gives his wife's charity $6 /12 Million of city money days before he retires... $15 Million since 2009
Mayor Daley gave a total of $15,000,000.00 ($15 Million) to this same charity since 2009. Maggie Daley is paid six figures to chair this charity.
There's nothing like a good ol' Chicago coincidence.
I mean, those marvelous situations in which connected people and groups always seem to have a lucky shamrock in their pocket at just the right time are a distinctive part of what makes Chicago, well, Chicago.
Which leads to a tale of one particularly wonderful coincidence. It involves After School Matters, a charity that provides programs for teenagers; Chicago mayors current and past, and a $6.5-million city grant
As I reported last week, ex-mayoral Chief of Staff Ray Orozco and former Department of Cultural Affairs Acting Commissioner Katherine LaMantia began new jobs on July 25 as the CEO and chief financial officer, respectively, of After School Matters.
The agency — chaired by Maggie Daley, wife of former Mayor Richard M. Daley — for years has been known informally as the unofficial City Hall charity.
In further researching the Orozco matter, I was pointed to records listed on a city's website. (Type in "after" and hit "search" to reach the records.)
The city's vendor, contract and payment information site indicates the group was awarded a new, $6.5-million city grant on May 12 -- four days before Mr. Orozco's former boss Mr. Daley left office.
The contract actually was signed on May 2 by then-Budget Director Eugene Munin in what must have been among his last official acts.
A wonderful coincidence, no? After School Matters gets a grant agreement worth up to $6,480,000 "to support ongoing summer jobs and after-school programs for youth" just four days before Rahm Emanuel is sworn into office, vowing to search high and low for potential cuts to balance a budget that's $635 million in the red.
After School Matters and two different spokesmen for Mr. Emanuel say the timing of the grant was, um, a coincidence.
The charity since 2007 regularly has received $6.5 million about a year from the city, they say. The money was included in the budget, they add, and it just so happens that the contract guaranteeing this year's funding went into effect in the final days of Mr. Daley's tenure.
A perusal of city records indicates that, indeed, After School Matters has received lots of city cash in recent years.
It looks to me like the amount has increased some lately. In 2006 through 2009, it received contracts with an average annual value of up to $4 million. The last two years, the average annual value has been closer to $7 million.
A city spokesman responds that he believes the contract usually is signed around the same time of the year.
Records indicate the $6.5-million contract for 2010 went into effect on July 8 of that year.
But it almost doesn't matter. What matters is that this year's contract now has been signed, preventing the new mayor from reviewing and perhaps cutting it in the same way that Mr. Emanuel has been reviewing and cutting and laying off all over City Hall.
Now, I've got nothing against Mr. Orozco, whose past work wins big praise from some. As far as I know, he's worth the $185,000 a year he's reportedly being paid in his new job. (After School Matters says that figure is too high, but declines to say what he is making.)
Nor do I have anything against After School Matters, which under Ms. Daley's leadership built a reputation as a solid group doing good work.
But why would those involved risk all of that by pulling these kinds of stunts?
The world had changed. If After School Matters is going to survive and thrive, it's going to have to make its way without any more marvelous coincidences.
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