News: April 2008 Archives

BY MIKE CETERA

A week before the Super Bowl, a neighbor told me about an annual betting pool he and his buddies enter. Such pools are not hard to find -- a trip to your local watering hole is about all it takes.

This pool offered up "squares" that corresponded with the score of the game at the end of each quarter. If the score matched your square, you earned a piece of the pool. Simple as that. The Aurora bar where this pool took place sold squares at $1,000 a piece. Shocked at the price, I declined my neighbor's invitation.

I offer up this anecdote as validation of Elburn Mayor Jim Willey's understatement in addressing the bust of a similar gambling operation in his town: "I don't believe this is only happening in Elburn."

Of course it's not. But the question is why do these anti-gambling laws -- which are selectively enforced -- exist?

BY MIKE CETERA

Eyebrows were raised, but the word "tenuous" also was uttered more than once during our afternoon meeting Monday when editors discussed where the mention of Dennis Hastert in the Tony Rezko trial should be played in the paper.

Read the trial accounts here and here.

From the Sun-Times:

Tony Rezko associate Elie Maloof just testified that when he received a grand jury subpoena, Rezko told him not to talk to the feds. Why?

"The federal prosecutor will no longer be the same federal prosecutor," Maloof just testified that Rezko told him. What did Rezko mean prosecutor Chris Niewoehner asked? "That Patrick Fitzgerald would be terminated and Dennis Hastert will name his replacement. The investigation will be over."

All of the accounts I've read dance around the suggestion that Hastert was involved in a plot to sack U.S. District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Hastert denied the suggestion himself on Monday.

Yet this isn't the first time the former speaker's name has been invoked during discussions of Fitzgerald's potential dismissal.

BY MIKE CETERA

On its face, charging a kid with a crime that could land him in prison for as long as 30 years for lighting a roll of toilet paper on fire seems a bit like overkill. People convicted of reckless homicide have been given less time.

But when you consider what could have happened after the 17-year-old allegedly started a blaze in a bathroom earlier this week at West Aurora High School, such a penalty seems far less extreme.

BY DAVE PARRO

While the conviction Monday of six Insane Deuces gang members made headlines in Aurora, it got little attention elsewhere. It should have, however, because proving conspiracy might be the most powerful tool police and prosecutors have in bringing down street gangs here.

Federal prosecutors successfully used racketeering laws to prove a conspiracy to commit murder and sell drugs in Aurora over a period of time. Some of the gang members will be facing life sentences under strict federal sentencing guidelines.

It's not the first time the RICO Act, originally used against the Mafia, has been used against street gangs. But it's a new tool in Aurora, and the guilty verdicts this week could be a sign of things to come.

BY MIKE CETERA

Aurora is No. 3 -- in terms of what it spends on lobbying efforts, anyway.

Just in time for the continued local debate on the cost, value and political ramifications of paid lobbyists, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform has put out a report on government lobbying efforts. The group wants to see statewide reform to give citizens more information on who is spending what for what.

The finding of interest locally: The city of Aurora spent more money than all but two other municipalities in fiscal year 2007 on lobbying efforts (Only Chicago and Crestwood spent more). Among all units of government, Aurora ranked 15th with $102,101 spent on lobbying. UPDATE: Beacon News staff writer Dan Campana has seen the invoices used by the group; the number is off. Aurora paid $95,101 in fiscal 2007. The change does not affect the city's ranking.

See the press release here. Read the full report here.

BY MIKE CETERA

The Associated Press is calling it "one of the strongest ever recorded" earthquakes in the state. Centered in the far southeastern part of the state, the 4:37 a.m. temblor shook buildings hundreds of miles away.

The quake shook skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop, 230 miles north of the epicenter, and in downtown Indianapolis, about 160 miles northeast of the epicenter.

Did you feel the quake? Share your story.

BY MIKE CETERA

UPDATE APRIL 16: The African-American Chamber of Commerce has numbers. Read after the jump

Richard Irvin says the city of Aurora should be mandated to give some of its contracts to minority-owned businesses. This is at least the third time he's made this pitch. But he's not once made clear there's a discrimination problem.

Perhaps there is, but shouldn't we see some data first?

BY MIKE CETERA

Dave Parro and I took on the recall amendment point-counterpoint style on today's Viewpoint page. Read Dave's column here; mine here.

Who's right? Is recall a good idea or a terrible one, as I argue?

BY MIKE CETERA

A state spending study released today by two taxpayer advocacy groups (I'm guessing these are conservative organizations) makes the point that Illinois faces a fiscal crisis not because it doesn't have enough money, but because the folks we send to Springfield spend too much of what taxpayers are compelled to give on non-essential programs.

State revenues have grown on average 5.5 percent each year between 2003 and 2007, according to the 2008 Piglet Book, published jointly by the Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste.

Have you gotten raises that big over the last four years? If so, are you having a hard time with your checkbook?

BY MIKE CETERA

Why do kids drink?

A dumb question, yes? Yet, if parents -- and communities -- knew the real answer, they might be able to do something constructive to solve this nation's largest drug problem. I imagine many parents who attended the forums in Aurora and Oswego on Wednesday came to learn why kids drink; others perhaps came to find out if there is a way to stop them.

A study published in late 2007 sought to find the answers to these questions. The results, published in the journal Prevention Research, found that high school seniors drink to experiment, to relax -- and to get away from their problems -- by and large similar reasons why adults drink.

BY MIKE CETERA

CYNIC: Having defeated all other scourges upon mankind, the city of Aurora -- with an assist from the politicians in Springfield who need fodder for re-election -- has decided to tackle a problem it doesn't have: meth.

OPTIMIST: They acknowledged meth production isn't a problem here yet. They're just being proactive. Assistant Police Chief Greg Thomas said "this is a preventive measure to make sure it is not a problem here."

CYNIC: Proactive? I believe the term you're looking for is political opportunism. They use a recent bust -- in Chicago -- to make themselves look current and tough on crime. And, as an added bonus, they might scare some voters into believing something that isn't true.