Free Republic

Rahm Emanuel won election as mayor of Chicago three years ago in part because of his strength in the African-American community, but enough black voters have since soured on him that a black labor leader is emerging as a potential rival in the city's February election. Emanuel easily won the majority of voters in every African-American ward in 2011 to become mayor of Chicago, the nation's third-largest city. Since then, a persistently high murder rate, the closing of 50 public schools and a sense that Emanuel is out of touch have hurt his position and invited a bid from Karen...

The weekend toll from gun violence in Chicago is five dead and at least 40 wounded, and includes a 13-year-old boy who was fatally shot on a sidewalk in Marquette Park.. Demureye Macon was gunned down in the 6600 block of South Talman Avenue around 8:35 p.m. Sunday, according to Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

Joe Tartaro and Dave Workman stop by the table of David Codrea, lower right I have been traveling for the last week to attend the Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC), which is being held this weekend at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.   The hotel is at O'Hare airport.   I left family members in Missouri at about 5:40 a.m. on Friday morning.   I had a little over 500 miles to go to reach the conference.    My Niece called an hour later, just as I was getting coffee (free, they had a special) at a McDonalds. O'Hare was in trouble. Early...

Flights at both Chicago airports have been halted Friday morning, due to a fire at Federal Aviation Administration radar facility in Aurora. Emergency crews found a man with self-inflicted wounds while putting out the fire. A ground stop was in place at O’Hare International and Midway International airports as a result of the fire. Flights headed into both airports were being diverted to other airports, while flights departing the airports were being delayed. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said fire investigators were at the scene, as part of the DuPage County Fire Investigation task force. Aurora...

Bishop Blase Cupich, a moderate who has called for civility in the culture wars and has embraced Pope Francis' focus on fighting poverty, will be named the next archbishop of Chicago, The Associated Press has learned. Cupich will succeed Cardinal Francis George... The pope's choice for Chicago has been closely watched as his first major appointment in the U.S., and the clearest indication yet of the direction he will steer American church leaders. Cupich is a moderate and is not among U.S. Roman Catholic bishops who have taken a harder line on hot-button issues. Francis has called for a greater...

Chicago’s youngest victim lost to gun violence this year may have been targeted by four reputed gang members who thought the boy shouted a warning to rival gangbangers, Chicago police said Friday in announcing charges in the month-old slaying.. At a news conference, Superintendent Garry McCarthy lauded the help of the community in solving the slaying of 9-year-old Antonio Smith Jr., saying police had little to go on after his shooting Aug. 20 in a back yard in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood

Chicago's newest selective enrollment high school will not be named after President Barack Obama, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel had announced with much fanfare when unveiling the high profile school project. In a statement this morning, Emanuel said he would look for other possible names. “Over the last few months, my team has listened to questions and concerns from the community, ranging from location of the building to the naming of the school. We take that community input seriously, which is why – as we continue to look for a thoughtful way to honor President Obama – we will look for...

Chicago Liberals have decided to do what they do best: kill businesses and ban firearms simultaneously. The new gun laws proposed by the city of Chicago are being described (by admitted leftists) as the “smartest in the Nation.” Needless to say: They’re pretty dumb. A Federal Judge demanded earlier this year that the city develop an actionable plan to allow gun sales within city limits. Of course, not all (or any) of the city council members seem on board. Ald. Water Burnett Jr said of the gun stores, “I don’t think we want these kinds of things in our communities...

Chicago Big profit for Pritzkers on costly Chicago FBI deal Sun, 09/14/2014 - 3:30pm Better Government Association @bettergov | Email A deal involving the federal government’s most expensive lease in Chicago produced millions of dollars in profits for a development group that included Penny Pritzker, a top campaign fund-raiser for President Barack Obama who is now his commerce secretary, a Chicago Sun-Times / Better Government Association investigation has found. The developers also included Jack Higgins, a friend and political backer of former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Over the 14-year term of the lease, the government will pay $280 million in...

The concept of Strati began just six months ago, before being brought to the showroom floor of the International Manufacturing Technology Show. Attendees got a first-hand look at the body of the car being printed layer by layer over a 44-hour period. Then, the non-printable parts, like the engine, lights and glass windshield were added. The top speed of the Strati is 40 miles per hour and a range of 120 miles on one charge. Rogers says the initial retail cost will start at $18,000 and go upwards of $30,000. However, when it comes time for a change, many of...

The Department of Labor coordinated with the White House on whether or not to release hidden portions of former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis’ schedule as Solis battled an FBI investigation into her illegal fundraising for President Obama. New emails provided to The Daily Caller from the nonprofit legal research firm Cause of Action show the White House thanking the Department of Labor for “flagging” a public information request for “withheld” portions of Solis’ schedule. (SEE THE EMAIL CHAIN). The White House then asked for the name of the conservative group making the request — information that Labor officials were eager...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday dropped another financial bombshell on Chicago’s 25,000 retired city workers and their dependents: their monthly health insurance premiums will be going up by a whopping 40 percent — in spite of a pending lawsuit and a precedent-setting Illinois Supreme Court ruling. Last year, Emanuel announced plans to save $108.7 million a year by phasing out the city’s 55 percent subsidy for retiree health care and forcing retirees to make the switch to Obamacare. For the city, the Year One savings was $25 million. For retirees, that translated into an increase in monthly health insurance premiums...

CHICAGO (AP) — The patient had been shot on the streets of Chicago, but when Dr. Jared Bernard stood over his open body in the operating room, he could see that the single bullet had unleashed the same kind of massive infection inflicted by roadside bombs in Afghanistan. Although the wounded man lay in a modern American hospital, saving his life would be no different than caring for a soldier wounded by a bomb exploding under a Humvee. That's why the Navy is sending its doctors, nurses and medics to Stroger Hospital, a Cook County facility that, in its own...

ASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is invoking first lady Michelle Obama as a possible 2016 opponent in a recent fund-raising appeal, citing the "press and rumor mills" as his source — though Mrs. Obama has given no sign she is interested in running for elected office. It's even doubtful President Barack Obama and the First Family will immediately return to Chicago after leaving the White House, since youngest daughter Sasha will still be in high school here in January, 2017. The letter, dated Sept. 5, serves to confirm that Kirk will seek a second term.

Help is at hand for job-seeking queer and trans youth.Roll up your sleeves, queer youth of Chicago, and get ready to connect and get skilled! On Wed., Oct. 22, 2014, noon-4 p.m. at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, the Work! Chicago LGBTQ Youth Job Fair welcomes members of the community, with a special focus on LGBTQ youth and the transgender community.The fair is sponsored by Windy City Times, Chicago House TransWorks, TransTech and the Center on Halsted. This job fair is a follow-up event to the Windy City Times LGBTQ Homeless Youth Summit held in May, in which...

Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine appears to be the first – and so far only – medical school in the country to openly admit illegal immigrants – and has seven such students currently enrolled, a campus official tells The College Fix. Under Stritch’s admission policy, illegal aliens who fall under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, also known as DACA and “DREAMers,” are eligible to be admitted to the medical school. DACA was created in 2012 when President Obama signed an executive order that stated, in effect, that illegal immigrant children who were brought to the United States...

Four Maywood firefighters have been relieved of duty, and more could be suspended Wednesday, for refusing to remove American flag decals from their helmets and lockers. The four refused to comply with an order issued last week by Chief Craig Bronaugh to remove all stickers from their helmets and lockers. The four drew the line when it came to the flag decals. ... Adam Rosen said he is “shocked” that an agency of first responders would enforce such an order the week of Sept. 11. The four suspended firefighters said they were told that the order was issued because of...

Seven people have been charged after a man who refused to flash a gang sign was attacked with a machete Monday morning at a Brown Line station in the Northwest Side Albany Park neighborhood.

Head of Marshals Service in Chicago reassigned AP , Associated Press Sep. 9, 2014 4:02 AM ET CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. Marshals Service has announced it has replaced the head of its Chicago office for the past four years in a re-organization, appointing an interim chief for its high-profile northern Illinois district. Darryl McPherson, who was named to the top Chicago post by President Barack Obama in 2010, was recently reassigned to the same office's judicial security division, said Drew Wade, an agency spokesman in Washington. Wade, however, declined to discuss why the 17-year Marshals Service veteran was moved...

On September 2nd, Chicago’s WGN carried a news story entitled “Chicago Summer Job Employees say they have not been paid.” Several hundred people who signed up for the city’s summer jobs program “One Summer Chicago” did not receive the paycheck they were expecting on August 29th. But don’t bother looking for this story on the web today unless you are familiar with “webcache,” for the entire piece has been erased and chucked down the familiar memory hole. Why? It could have something to do with who owes these summer jobs workers the money! That would be the St Sabina Catholic...