Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
November 17th, 2009
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Author: Starbucks has raised the price on a number of its drinks in the Chicago area, 10 to 15 cents. That large coffee is now $2.10 (before tax). That medium is now $1.95.
Don’t say they didn’t warn you.
The change was coming — in August, the Seattle-based coffee chain announced it would be raising prices nationwide, though it would happen slowly and deliberately.
It did not say when this would happen or where, only that it would happen eventually. It also said it would be lowering the price on many smaller drinks. This happened in Chicago, as well. Your small coffee? It’s 15 cents cheaper. Or $1.50 (before tax).
Read more on The Stew.
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Acknowledging an “oversight” was made, prosecutors in the Drew Peterson murder case are handing over to defense attorneys handwritten field notes made by police during their investigation.
In January, a judge will determine whether comments typically considered hearsay can be used at a trial for Peterson, who is accused of slaying his third wife, Kathleen Savio. On Monday, Peterson’s defense attorneys filed a motion seeking sanctions against prosecutors for failing to turn over the handwritten notes.
Joel Brodsky said they noticed the notes were missing about a month ago. Prosecutors previously turned over typewritten police reports.
The handwritten notes are being scanned and will be turned over to defense attorneys by Wednesday, said Charles Pelkie, a Will county state’s attorney’s spokesman.
“This was an oversight,” he said.
– Steve Schmadeke
Drivers caught behind the wheel with a suspended or revoked license would have their cars impounded under a proposed ordinance the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee approved today.
More from John Byrne in Clout Street on chicagotribune.com
McCormick Place is losing a second key piece of its convention business within a week, as the plastics industry trade show has decided to move to Orlando for 2012 and 2015 after nearly four decades in Chicago Piano movers, sources tell the Tribune.
The formal announcement, expected to be made at a 10 a.m. press conference today, comes on the heels of a decision by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society last week to move its 2012 annual meeting to Las Vegas.
The losses to the city’s chief rivals occur as the deep recession is cutting into the tourism and convention business, leading the agency that runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier to decide Monday to trim its work force by 20 percent, or about 100 positions, as part of a larger cost-cutting program aimed at trimming a projected $28.8 million deficit this fiscal year. The expected shortfall is more than triple what had been anticipated.
The plastics show, produced by SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, is triennial. The trade group’s 2009 show held in June at McCormick Place saw a 28 percent drop in attendance, to 44,000. And exhibitors complained to the trade association about the costs of exhibiting at McCormick Place.
The show is expected to be the 9th largest for the convention hall this year, generating an estimated $95.3 million in spending locally. That economic impact is down from $154.7 million for the 2006 show.
Donald Trump’s just-completed Trump International Hotel & Tower
just leaped from the world’s seventh tallest building to the world’s
sixth tallest. And the New York developer hasn’t done a thing to change
the Chicago tower.
The reason for the shift: The Chicago-based
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the global arbiter of
height standards, has changed its criteria for measuring skyscrapers.
Read more on Blair Kamin’s Cityscapes.
Cook County commissioners plan to try again today to roll back the controversial penny-on-a-dollar sales tax championed by Board President Todd Stroger — but this time they are emboldened by a new law that reduces the president’s veto power.
Stroger has repeatedly rebuffed efforts to eliminate or reduce the 2008 tax hike, saying it is crucial to the county’s huge hospital system.
State lawmakers from the suburbs pushed for the new state law signed last week by Gov. Pat Quinn, but Stroger has hinted he may challenge the board’s actions in court.
So it’s anybody’s guess whether the issue will be resolved by the Feb. 2 primary election, when Stroger faces significant opposition to a second term.
Read more on Clout Street.
Drivers are far more likely to encounter a horse than a streetlight on the secluded roads of Barrington Hills. But a controversial proposal could make it even darker in the village famed for its equestrians and sprawling houses.
A proposed lighting ordinance could help bring a rare “dark sky” designation to the upscale community. The measure, which would restrict the types of outdoor lights and the duration those lights could be left on, is before the village zoning board which will meet this week.
But more than 150 residents have joined a movement opposing the plan. Members of the group, Homeowners Against Lighting Ordinances, or HALO, say the law could cost them as much as $10,000 per home.
In recent months, hundreds of angry residents have flocked to hearings on the subject.
“I think people are fed up with being told how to run their own life,” said Dede Wamberg, who has lived in Barrington Hills for 23 years. “People move here because they don’t want a lot of people telling them what to do.”
So far, the International Dark-Sky Association has named only two towns in the nation — Flagstaff, Ariz., and Borrego Springs, Calif. — “dark sky cities” for their efforts to reduce what the organization considers unnecessary outdoor lighting.
The Arizona-based group contends that excessive nighttime lighting has far-reaching negative consequences for public health and the environment, said Johanna Duffek, its outreach and education manager. The organization, founded by astronomers, says humans and animals suffer ill effects from such exposure.
Hundreds of towns across the nation — including Illinois’ Homer Glen, Peoria, Mount Prospect and Norridge — are getting in on the act in less stringent ways, she said.
But Barrington Hills — with a population of just under 4,000 — would like to be the first town east of the Mississippi River to be named a “dark sky city,” said Steve Knoop, a village trustee who favors the idea.
Under debate is an ordinance that would limit the lumen output of lights in commercial and residential space; it also would curtail where those lights can be located. For example, no lights could be placed in tree branches or shrubs. And continuously operating most lights would be prohibited.
Exceptions might include lights for a front door or an outdoor stairwell. Security lights would be allowed but must be operated by motion sensor.
Exterior lights would have to face down and be shielded.
There’s no question the topic has some in the village heated up. Knoop said he has been threatened and he called the tenor of the debate “shrill.”
Sarah Kenney, Barrington Hills planning and zoning coordinator, said village employees got the idea at a municipal conference about 18 months ago.
“The sky is just another natural resource,” Kenney said, adding it was one the village wanted to protect. Starry night skies, she said, were typical of the old-fashioned farming community Barrington Hills aims to be.
“There’s no sidewalks, there’s no grand subdivision signs with the lights,” she said. In the last decade, though, the housing boom came to Barrington Hills, with new mansions often “awash” in light, she said.
It recently held a planning and zoning board hearing on the subject, and hundreds turned out. Invited to speak was a member of the dark-sky association board in Illinois, Audrey Fischer.
Some residents got out of hand during Fischer’s talk about the dangers of light pollution and the benefits of dark skies, she said.
“I got catcalls, I got laughed at,” Fischer said. “You would think I was talking about I saw aliens just land in my backyard.”
Karen O’Connor, a HALO member, agreed that some were rude to Fischer but felt the presentation was a distraction from the real issues: the cost and security consequences of lighting limits.
O’Connor estimated she spent as much as $25,000 on exterior lighting for her property and said she’d have to modify or eliminate a good portion of it. “No one has done an impact analysis of what this ordinance would mean from a cost perspective,” she said.
Residents add that shutting off lights gives criminals a dark place to hide. O’Connor noted that some security cameras are worthless in total darkness.
Eric Littauer, a Barrington Hills resident, said the regulations seem pointless, with Chicago just 40 miles away.
The city — lit up in orange glow — even made the cover of National Geographic a year ago, with bold letters announcing, “The End of Night.”
“How dark is it really going to be?” Littauer said.
Dark-sky proponents argue that some miss the point of limits. “We’re not advocating going back to the 17th century,” Duffek said.
The organization points to studies like one published in 2001 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, which concluded that bright light at nighttime may inhibit a woman’s production of melatonin and could be linked to an increased risk for breast cancer.
Preserving the starry nighttime experience for adults and children is another common goal. Margaret Sabo, a trustee in Homer Glen, helped her village pass a light ordinance in 2007.
The town, also seeking a dark-sky city designation, adopted relatively strict rules in 2004 and 2007, Sabo said.
She sympathizes with the struggle in Barrington Hills. “It isn’t something you can snap your fingers and do,” she said. “It’s a long process.”
In Barrington Hills, Knoop said the intense feedback on the ordinance shows that it will require modification to pass.
Residents and board members will have ample time — including zoning board meeting Wednesday — to suggest changes, he said. “This is supposed to be a discussion,” Knoop said. “If (the ordinance is) too tough, say so, and let’s change it.”
– Georgia Garvey
A 16-year-old boy was shot Monday night in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, police said.
At about 9:30 p.m., the teen was standing in the 2000 block of East 71 Street when two men dressed in black approached him, took out a gun and shot him in the right leg, police said. He was treated at Jackson Park Hospital and later released.
Police said the incident was gang-related.
Mayor Richard Daley today said closing a three-block stretch of Michigan Avenue for two days next week for the Oprah Winfrey show will be a great public relations boost for the city.
Daley said the talk show host will reimburse the city for the costs of the show, which will shut down Michigan Avenue between Ohio Street and Wacker Drive from 12:01 a.m. Monday, Labor Day, until 5 a.m. Wednesday. (Here’s a PDF map showing how the show would be set up)
“This is a great thing we’re doing, I wish we could do this everyday in the city of Chicago,” Daley said at an unrelated event this morning.
Daley said the taping of the Oprah show will help create jobs and bring worldwide publicity to the city.
“She’s an icon for the industry. Take New York City, Los Angeles, take all of them for the filming industry. They do this everyday, unfortunately,” Daley said.
Asked by reporters about the inconvenience to downtown motorists, Daley said it’s worth it.
“I think they’ll understand how important this is dealing with jobs, dealing with international insurance exposure…this is a great opportunity,” Daley said.
The event, a kickoff for the 24th season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” will tape on Sept. 8 at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Ohio Street and will be open to the public on a first come, first serve basis, according to show officials. Daley echoed the invite.
“It’s filming, it’s open to all ages,” said Daley.
The list of guests has yet to be released, but the show will feature an appearance by the Black Eyed Peas. The episode is scheduled to air Sept. 10.
Plans call for a stage to be put up at the foot of the north end of the Michigan Avenue bridge facing north, said Megan McDonald, executive director of the mayor’s office of special events. The audience will be arranged on the street portion of Michigan Avenue and will extend up to Ohio Street, she said.
“The sidewalks will not be affected, the sidewalks will remain open at all times for pedestrian traffic,” McDonald said, adding that people will be asked to move on along the sidewalks if they stop to view the taping.
Barricades will be posted along the street separating it from the sidewalk, which will remain open to pedestrian traffic. Harpo studio will supply security personnel to monitor the audience and prevent outsiders from coming onto the audience area. Chicago police personnel will assist with security along the sidewalk and may assist inside the audience section, McDonald said.
“Staffingwise it’s a pretty minimal number,” said McDonald, who said final numbers were not available. “We’ve had a lot of public safety meetings with Harpo studios. We’ve gone through this exhaustively to make sure we’re addressing all of the things we need to address.”
She said the Office of Emergency Management and Communications is expected to supply traffic aides to the area to help reroute traffic.
The closures are expected to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday on Michigan Avenue from Wacker Drive to Ohio Street. The street closures are expected to continue until 5 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. The closures will only affect vehicles, pedestrian traffic will still be allowed on the sidewalks.
Officials said Ohio Street and the Lake Shore Drive will remain open as well as lower Illinois Street, Grand Avenue and Kinzie Street. The alternative routes will be Clark Street, Dearborn Street and Lake Shore Drive, officials said.
– Dan P. Blake and Carlos Sadovi
The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana reports: A man arrested in a Portage bank robbery also has been accused of two other recent heists. The first took place Aug. 12 in Hammond, the second Aug. 19 in Wood Forest, and the third last Wednesday. In two cases, the robber was wearing a Chicago Bears hat.
Get the full story: post-trib.com.