24

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

The Bernstein Brief: Why Wouldn’t Guaranteed Rate Play Ball With White Sox?

By Dan Bernstein–
CBSChicago.com senior columnist

(CBS) The entire marriage between the White Sox and their new ballpark naming sponsor has been bizarre from the outset, with an announcement they hurried out to be met with all kinds of blowback requiring continued damage control.

Guaranteed Rate Field is an awkward title with even worse optics, a massive downward-pointing arrow that’s supposed to represent interest rates that can also be perceived easily as negative when it comes to a sports team. And despite attempts to minimize that issue, the White Sox were unhappy enough about it to try to fix it.

We know this because the CEO of the lender said so, with Victor Ciardelli telling the Tribune the White Sox “asked us if we’d change it.” He refused, however, saying, “We’ve had it for 16 years, and we’re not going to change it.”

The team made the perfectly reasonable and creative suggestion to remove the barbs of the arrow to leave the shape of home plate, but the company wouldn’t budge, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. That would have seemed to be a fair compromise, considering an image of home would work nicely for both baseball and home loans, but it didn’t happen, and the partnership is off to a publicly uneasy start.

Why Ciardelli would want this information out there is puzzling, because it airs behind-the-scenes disagreement on the very day the name change takes effect and again calls presumably unwanted attention to a logo that’s less than a good fit for a franchise struggling for direction.

Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score’s “Boers and Bernstein Show” in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter  @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2dYCzXW

Gannett Gives Up On Bid For Tribune Parent Company, Tronc

NEW YORK (AP) — Gannett is walking away from its takeover attempt at Tronc, the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other major dailies.

Tronc Inc., formerly known as Tribune Publishing, at one point attempted to fend off Gannett by bringing in California entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong as an investor. He backed chairman Michael Ferro’s plans to revitalize the troubled company with tech-focused initiatives, focused on artificial intelligence and global expansion in entertainment news and video.

Both Gannett and Tronc have struggled with sliding ad revenue. Gannett recently released 2 percent of its workers.

Shares of Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, are surging more than 8 percent in premarket trading Tuesday.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2f977Ul

Aldermen Back $2M Settlement To Police Whistleblowers

CHICAGO (CBS) — The City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday signed off on a $2 million settlement to a pair of police officers who blew the whistle on police corruption and paid a heavy price for it.

The settlement with police partners Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria was reached on the eve of their trial, averting the need for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to comply with a federal judge’s order to testify about the code of silence that the mayor acknowledged exists in the Police Department.

But, the Emanuel administration has insisted that Chicago taxpayers are not being asked to cough up big bucks just to keep Emanuel off the stand.

Rather, First Deputy Corporation Counsel Jenny Notz said the alleged retaliation against Spalding and Echeverria and the damage done to the credibility of police brass who would argue otherwise makes it unwise for the city to roll the dice and risk going to trial.

Spalding and Echeverria allege they were retaliated against for helping to expose police corruption nearly a decade ago.

The partners had alleged their superiors told them in 2007 to ignore evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Sgt. Ronald Watts. Instead, on personal time, they said they reported it to the FBI.

What the officers thought would end with a simple meeting eventually turned into “Operation Brass Tax.” And while they tried to limit their involvement in the investigation to personal time, it became so time-consuming that the officers were forced to tell CPD’s internal affairs. As a result, they were formally detailed to the FBI.

Spalding and Echeverria spent two years working exclusively on the Watts investigation. Watts was sentenced in October 2013 to 22 months in prison for shaking down drug dealers.

But lawyers for the two officers say Internal Affairs Chief Juan Rivera blew their cover. Spalding and Echeverria were branded “rat motherf——” and told their bosses didn’t want them in their units. They were allegedly told their careers were over, given undesirable assignments and shifts and told fellow officers wouldn’t back them up. Their actions allegedly made the brass so angry that Spalding was warned to “wear her vest” so she wouldn’t be shot in the parking lot for crossing the thin blue line.

“One of the defendants … charged with some of the retaliatory conduct resigned in December of 2015 before the Police Department initiated disciplinary proceedings against him for his role in the re-investigation of the David Koschman case,” Notz told aldermen Monday.

“Also in 2015, a key CPD witness who would have rebutted some of the plaintiffs’ most serious allegations of retaliation relating to their experiences in the Narcotic Unit was indicted on felony perjury charges relating to testimony that he gave in another case. … The police superintendent recommended [in March] that this officer be terminated.”

Notz added, “The plaintiffs would certainly, if this case went to trial, use these recent developments to attack the credibility of two of the defense’s key witnesses at trial, making this case difficult to win.”

After hearing those lopsided facts, Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th) wondered aloud why the whistleblowing partners are “settling for only $2 million if they have the potential to hit it out of the park?”

Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th) is the cousin of R.J. Vanecko, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served a two-month jail sentence for throwing the punch that killed David Koschman. But even Thompson said: “It sounds like a tough case for the city.”

Also on Monday, the Finance Committee authorized a $500,000 settlement to Patrice Robinson, who suffered a complex fracture to the spine in 2014 after she was a passenger in a car that was rear-ended by a Chicago Police vehicle going the wrong way down a one-way street at a high-rate of speed — through a stop sign — while responding to a call of an officer needing assistance.

Robinson was a passenger in the vehicle that was struck by the police car, spun and hit a light pole. She underwent two spinal surgeries.

During an extraordinary speech to the City Council last December, Emanuel apologized for the “systematic breakdown” that culminated in the “totally avoidable” police shooting of Laquan McDonald and acknowledged the “code of silence” in the Chicago Police Department he once tried to keep out of a court record.

Emanuel is the first mayor in Chicago history to acknowledge the “code of silence” that has some police officers covering up the wrongdoing of colleagues or, at the very least, turning a blind eye to it.

But Corporation Counsel Steve Patton has maintained that the mayor’s repeated statements do not mean the city will have to capitulate in any lawsuit that mentions the “code of silence.”

“The fact that there is a code of silence, and at least some officers on some occasions don’t report wrongdoing … doesn’t mean that it happens every time or all the time,” Patton said on the day the settlement was announced.

The whistleblower lawsuit was pending in federal court for years. But the political and legal landscape changed forever Nov. 24, 2015.

That’s when Emanuel complied with a court order to release dashcam video of white Police Officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 rounds into the body of black teenager Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder hours before the now-widely-viewed video was released.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson subsequently recommended firing 11 police officers accused of covering up the McDonald shooting or bungling the investigation of the shooting.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson followed Ferguson’s lead on five of the officers, but disagreed on one. The remaining five officers either retired or resigned after Ferguson made his recommendations.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2eQcxFs

Chicago Soars Past 600 Homicides After Bloody October

CHICAGO (CBS) — With 78 homicides, October was the second deadliest month of 2016, and Chicago surpassed 600 homicides for the first time in more than a decade.

The last time Chicago had at least 600 homicides in a single year was 2003.

Homicides and non-fatal shootings have skyrocketed in 2016, with 605 homicides and more than 3,600 shooting victims through the end of October.

In October, there were 78 homicides and 427 shooting victims. Only August had more homicides, when 90 people were slain in Chicago. It was the bloodiest month in the city in 20 years.

The city is on pace for 726 homicides in 2016, a number not seen since the late 1990s.

Chicago police said the majority of the increase in violence this year has happened in five districts on the South Side and West Side, but Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said his officers were not outmanned in those areas.

The superintendent said the state needs stricter sentencing laws for repeat gun offenders.

“It’s our repeat gun offenders that are driving all this violence, and until we get tough on sentencing gunmen – holding them accountable – we’re going to keep seeing this cycle keep continuing,” he said.

To help fight the increase in crime, the Emanuel administration already was planning to hire 970 new police officers over the next two years, in addition to filling existing vacancies in the ranks.

Based on sophisticated computer data and analysis, more officers will be deployed on foot and bike patrols in high-crime areas; and repeat offenders will be targeted as part of a block-by-block public safety strategy.



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2fd2WWb

Man Fatally Shot In East Garfield Park Drive-By Attack

A man was killed in a drive-by shooting early Tuesday in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, police said.

The 51-year-old was standing outside at 2:37 a.m. in the 600 block of North Ridgeway when a vehicle drove by and someone inside fired shots, according to Chicago Police.

The man was shot in the back, police said. He was taken to Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office could not immediately provide further details.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2ePXfQP

Man Shot In Park Manor

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man was shot early Tuesday in a Park Manor neighborhood store on the South Side.

The 20-year-old was in a store at 1:11 a.m. in the 7100 block of South State Street when someone fired shots from outside, according to Chicago Police.

The man suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and buttocks and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

No one else was injured in the shooting. Area Central detectives are investigating.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2f8Ey9G

2 Killed, 17 Wounded In Halloween Shootings Across Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two people were killed and at least 17 more wounded in Halloween shootings across the city on Monday, according to Chicago Police.

The latest slaying happened about 7 p.m. in the Uptown neighborhood on the North Side. A 24-year-old man was outside in the 4600 block of North Kenmore when someone in an SUV pulled up and shot him in the side. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office did not have details on the death.

Earlier Monday, a 28-year-old man was shot to death in an Englewood neighborhood apartment on the South Side. Officers found Mark Higgins Jr. about 4 a.m. on the kitchen floor of his second-floor unit in the 1100 block of West Garfield, with gunshot wounds to the head and chest, authorities said. He was dead at the scene.

The day’s latest spate of gun violence left 13 people wounded in less than six hours.

At 11:21 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was standing on the sidewalk with several other people in the 4500 block of North Malden in the Sheridan Park neighborhood on the North Side, when a male walked up and opened fire, police said. The boy was shot in the right leg and taken to Thorek Memorial Hospital. He was later transferred to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where his condition was stabilized.

About 9:35 p.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, an 18-year-old man was walking in the 5000 block of South Winchester when someone walked up and shot at him, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Five minutes earlier, a 15-year-old boy was standing on an Austin front porch in the 5200 block of West Kamerling on the West Side when someone walked up and started shooting, police said. He was shot in the right leg and was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where his condition was stabilized.

At 9:23 p.m., two people were wounded in a shooting in the West Side Lawndale neighborhood. The 18-year-old man and 15-year-old boy were standing on the sidewalk in the 1200 block of South Lawndale when someone walked up and fired shots, police said. The man was shot in the back, while the boy was shot in the back and abdomen. They were both taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized.

At 9:09 p.m., an 18-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk in the 4600 block of West Barry in the Kelvin Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, when someone in a white car fired shots in his direction, police said. He was shot in the right shoulder and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized. A police source said the man is a documented gang member.

At 8:54 p.m., a 26-year-old man was critically wounded in a Longwood Manor neighborhood shooting on the Far South Side. He was getting out of a vehicle in the 9700 block of South Parnell when he heard gunshots and realized he’d been shot in the chest, police said. He was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

About 8:10 p.m. in South Shore, a 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet, police said. He showed up at Jackson Park Hospital after the attack in the 1800 block of East 72nd Street. The circumstances of the shooting were unknown. He was listed in good condition.

At that same time, a 32-year-old man was wounded in a Roseland drive-by shooting on the Far South Side. He was walking in the 10700 block of South Wallace when a light-colored vehicle went by and someone inside shot him in the leg, police said. He was taken in fair condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Police said the shooting likely was gang-related.

Ten minutes earlier in East Garfield Park, a 24-year-old man was shot in the foot in a drive-by in the 3800 block of West Gladys, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.

About 7 p.m., someone shot a 16-year-old boy in the ankle in the Austin neighborhood’s 4900 block of West Race on the West Side. He was taken to Mount Sinai in good condition but wasn’t cooperative with detectives, police said.

Fifteen minutes before that, a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 800 block of North Cambridge on the Near North Side and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition.

About 5:30 p.m., another 16-year-old boy was shot in Austin. He suffered a foot wound at the intersection of North and Central avenues and took himself to Loretto Hospital in good condition, police said.

Earlier Monday afternoon, a 38-year-old man was shot in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. He was sitting in a vehicle at 1:23 p.m. in the 5800 block of South Justine when three males approached and fired shots, police said. He was shot in the right shoulder and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized. The suspects ran away west after the shooting.

An hour before that, two people were shot in more Austin violence. One male was shot in the leg and taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, and another with a leg wound was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. They were in good condition.

The day’s first shooting happened about 2 a.m. in South Chicago. A 37-year-old woman was riding in a vehicle in the 8000 block of South Exchange when she was shot in the left shoulder. She later showed up at South Shore Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, police said.

The violence followed the deadliest weekend of city gun violence in at least three years. Including Monday’s homicide on Garfield and the shooting on Exchange, 58 people were shot, leaving 17 dead.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2fqbuxI