Big news out of Wisconsin as the legislature prepares to ditch the budget repair bill and go straight to the collective bargaining at the heart of the past month’s controversy. But Scott Walker isn’t the only governor taking huge political risks–new Republican leaders in Florida and Pennsylvania are pushing dramatic budget cuts. Meanwhile, things are quiet in Illinois… too quiet?
IN THE HEAT OF THE AFTERNOON: Six warm speeches by Chicagoans of the Year defrost crowd’s winter woes
The governor ended an eight-year moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois, signing a bill sponsored by Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood). Compelling arguments for capital punishment remain, but they can’t outweigh the state’s shameful record.
THINKING ABOUT THE BRAIN: Doctors and scientists at Rush University Medical Center are looking for better ways to identify and treat the disease.
Today Rahm Emanuel announced two of his transition teams, including his education team. Since the Chicago Public Schools, teacher contracts, charter schools, and school turnarounds will all be major issues for the new mayor, here’s a look at the people he’s appointed to help him.
THE SOCIAL NETWORKER: He lunches with Desirée Rogers—weekly—and has the Midas touch for fundraising among his gilded circle of friends. Take a lesson, Mark Zuckerberg: When it comes to making connections, the Chicago entrepreneur and philanthropist Neal Zucker is the paradigm of gracious chic
Hermene Hartman, publisher and editor in chief of N’DIGO, angered some members of her African-American community when she endorsed Rahm Emanuel over Carol Moseley Braun. She told me recently that the black political/business/religious leaders who selected Moseley Braun had better move aside, or, at least, rethink their strategy. “We are not training people to run for office,” she laments. Her case in point: LeAlan Jones…
Republicans in New Jersey, Indiana, and Ohio are all fighting unions, but it’s the public-sector unions in Wisconsin that have captured the nation’s attention. Here’s what the governor did wrong… and one thing he’s been widely blamed for that’s not his fault.
J. Michael Bailey stirred the hornet’s nest with a live sex demonstration after a session of his Human Sexuality class. The incident has been lousy with coverage, but reasoned discussion has been hard to find. Here’s where to go to find it.
ABC7’s Chuck Goudie reported Wednesday the possibility of a coming together between the Jewish community and the Nation of Islam’s Minister Louis Farrakhan. “The Anti-Defamation League seems open to a meeting with Farrakhan and Chicago mayor-elect Emanuel,” Goudie said. The ADL’s regional director, Lonnie Nasatir, said that’s not so. Nasatir told me today…
