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White Sox Cut Ties With Nacho Supplier Azteca Foods

2009-11-25T16:17:54Z

For 13 years, Chicago's Azteca Foods reigned as the Chicago White Sox's official nacho supplier -- until it was dethroned recently by Mexican-owned Mission Foods. Azteca's Art Velasquez knows that's the way the corn chip crumbles -- business isn't for the sentimental -- yet he can't help but feel a big loss.

Stevenson Students: We Were Forced To Publish Censored Paper Or Fail

2009-11-25T15:55:15Z

Less than a week after administrators at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire halted the release of the student newspaper because of stories dealing with drinking, smoking and teen pregnancy, staff members said they were told they had less than two hours to produce a paper without the controversial stories, or receive failing grades.

Parking Meter Deal Balanced The Budget: Daley

2009-11-25T15:38:26Z

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says without money from the controversial lease of the city's parking meters, there'd be no way to balance the 2010 budget.

DuPage Water Rates May Spike Over 40 Percent

2009-11-25T14:53:15Z

Customers of the DuPage Water Commission may face a steep rate hike to replenish financial reserves that have all but evaporated.

Chicago Cops Punished For Posed Photo With Cuffed G-20 Summit Suspect

2009-11-25T14:49:00Z

CHICAGO — A Chicago police spokesman says two high-ranking officers have been reprimanded after a video surfaced that showed officers posing with a handcuffed suspect at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

Police began investigating after video of the September incident began circulating on the Internet. In the video, more than a dozen officers in riot gear pose for a photo with the suspect kneeling in front of them.

Police spokesman Roderick Drew said Tuesday that a department chief and a commander were reprimanded. He declined to identify the officers or say how or why they were punished.

A lawyer for the detained man, a 21-year-old university student, has said his client was wrongly detained while returning to campus from a pizza parlor.

Pfleger Billboards Put Bounty On CPS Student Killers

2009-11-25T14:46:20Z

In a litter-strewn, vacant lot in Englewood, steps away from three houses of worship, a billboard went up Tuesday, asking, essentially, what is the price of a child's life.

Jimmy Clausen's Visor: Notre Dame QB Hides Punched Face At Practice (PHOTOS)

2009-11-25T07:12:05Z

Days after reportedly being punched in the face during an altercation, Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen attended practice with his face mostly covered by a black visor. As the AP notes, allowing a dark visor marked a departure from head coach Charlie Weis' previous visor policy:

Weis announced in August that he would allow Notre Dame players to wear visors for the first time. He said at the time that they could only wear clear visors because he didn't think dark visors would look right at Notre Dame because he didn't want players to have "Darth Vader visors."

Below, see photos of Clausen in his visor.

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Axelrod: 'I Thought Lisa [Madigan] Would Give Us The Best Shot' Of Keeping Obama's Senate Seat

2009-11-25T00:08:44Z

CHICAGO — The White House and Illinois Democrats said Tuesday that their bid to hold on to President Barack Obama's old Senate seat won't be easy and their difficulties aren't just because of the scandal that engulfed ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Next year is the first major election for Democrats since Blagojevich was arrested last year on federal corruption charges and removed from office. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to sell or trade Obama's Senate seat.

"No one ever said it was going to be easy. There's a dark cloud over everyone's head," said Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois' treasurer who's running for Obama's senate seat.

The Obama administration has even expressed some uneasiness about Democrats' ability to keep the seat away from Republicans in the wake of Blagojevich.

"Obviously there is an added burden, but not an insurmountable one," top Obama adviser David Axelrod told The Associated Press.

But Blagojevich isn't the Democrats' only hurdle, said Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle. Del Valle on Tuesday endorsed former city of Chicago inspector general David Hoffman, one of Giannoulias' Feb. 2 primary opponents.

"It's a rough political climate," del Valle said. "President Barack Obama is not having an easy time these days even though he's doing exactly what people like me want him to do."

Republicans are pushing hard to claim Obama's old Senate seat. The seat is currently held by Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to the post by Blagojevich after the then-governor was arrested last year.

The crowded GOP primary includes U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Chicago's northern suburbs, the best-known of the candidates in the field.

Democrats running for the seat also include Chicago Urban League leader Cheryle Jackson, a former top aide to Blagojevich in his first term, and attorney Jacob Meister.

The White House had hoped Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan could be persuaded to get in the race. Madigan decided to run for a third term as attorney general rather than seek higher office in the U.S. Senate or as Illinois governor.

"Obviously I thought Lisa would give us the best shot because she's the most popular politician in the state," Axelrod said.

Giannoulias said voters are looking for a candidate with the best ideas to move the country forward, while Hoffman said voters want fresh faces in politics.

"People are really fed up. They've had enough," Hoffman said.

___

Associated Press Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed to this report.

Chicago Sun-Times Eyes Online Pay Walls

2009-11-24T23:02:33Z

While there's no panacea for the ills of the newspaper publishing business, small changes will help turn the tide at the money-losing publisher of Chicago's No. 2 paper, Sun-Times Media CEO Jeremy Halbreich said.

Washington Post To Close New York, Chicago, LA Bureaus

2009-11-24T22:25:00Z

WASHINGTON — The Washington Post will close its remaining U.S. bureaus in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago at the end of the year to save money and will focus news efforts on covering the nation's capital.

Six correspondents are being offered jobs in Washington, while three news aides will be let go Dec. 31.

In a staff memo Tuesday, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told workers that the paper needed to concentrate its "journalistic firepower" on its central mission of covering Washington, D.C.

In the last decade, the paper has closed bureaus in Miami, Denver and Austin, Texas.

The Washington Post Co.'s earnings increased 69 percent in the third quarter partly due to cost-cutting measures. The company also owns Newsweek magazine, Kaplan education services and television properties.

Giannoulias Says He Made $1M Off Family Bank Dividend Sale

2009-11-24T21:48:01Z

Illinois Treasurer and U.S. Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias said Tuesday that a "minimal" amount of the $70 million he and his siblings received in 2007 and 2008 dividends from Broadway Bank, the troubled Chicago lender the family owns, actually went to them individually.

38 States Join Fight Against Chicago Handgun Ban

2009-11-24T20:13:33Z

Nebraska and 37 other states are supporting a challenge to Chicago's ban on handguns.

E2 Nightclub Stampede: Owners Dwain Kyles And Calvin Hollins Get 2 Years For Contempt

2009-11-24T18:56:34Z

CHICAGO — A judge says two owners of a Chicago nightclub where 21 people were killed in a stampede down a stairwell six years ago must go to prison.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Gillespie sentenced Dwain Kyles and Calvin Hollins Tuesday to two years each.

The men were convicted in September of indirect criminal contempt for disobeying a court order to close the second floor of their E2 night club. They claimed they didn't understand the order.

But city prosecutors say Kyles and Hollins were motivated by pure greed in packing the nightclub with too many people.

Many victims were trapped and crushed after patrons rushed into the stairwell early Feb. 17, 2003 after someone used pepper spray to break up a fight inside the club.

Joakim Noah Dunks On Greg Oden (VIDEO)

2009-11-24T18:50:09Z

Derrick Rose wasn't the only Bull to deliver a powerful jam against Greg Oden last night. Less than five minutes into the second quarter, James Pargo stole the ball from the Trail Blazers and quickly passed to Joakim Noah, who took it straight to the hoop for a dunk on the Portland center. The dunk wasn't enough to put the Bulls over the top, though, as the Blazers won, 122-98.

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Playboy To Outsource Most Operations, Cut 25 Jobs

2009-11-24T17:00:17Z

Playboy Enterprises Inc. will outsource all its publishing operations except for editorial to American Media Inc. in a bid to cut costs and return its namesake magazine to profitability in two years.