News: May 2008 Archives

BY DAVE PARRO

Newspapers like to write about campaign contributions and how they possibly influence who gets awarded public tax dollars because it's good watchdog journalism.

But the impact of stories like Dan Campana's special report on Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner's fundraising machine is usually minimal. Just look at how many Tribune and Sun-Times investigative stories Mayor Daley has survived in Chicago.

Voters in general seem to simply shrug their shoulders, as long as they see progress in other areas. So what's the value in reporting these stories?

BY MIKE CETERA

Each year, without fail, the Schaumburg-based Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists comes out with a list ranking DUI arrests in Northern Illinois communities. Each year, without fail, Aurora falls at or near the bottom of towns with 200 or more arrests.

In 2007, Aurora police made 223 DUI arrests, 39th among the towns surveyed. In 2006, the APD made 246 arrests, placing the department dead last in terms of the number of DUIs per sworn officer. Read more on how Aurora compared in prior years here.

In previous years, when these annual numbers have been released, the APD has maintained its officers are vigilant about drunken drivers. I'm guessing -- and this is only a guess -- the department has bigger fish to fry (read: gangs), which is why Aurora's neighbor to the east consistently makes hundreds more DUI arrests each year.

BY MIKE CETERA

Planned Parenthood Aurora, in a recent response to a defamation lawsuit filed by the Pro-Life Action League, suggests it has no liability in accusing anti-abortion activists of violence. The women's health care agency, which provides abortions, says it should be protected by a new state law that strengthens First Amendment rights.

PP is arguing, in essence, when it comes to trying to sway a government body, anything goes. To be clear, the agency also is suggesting what it said is true.

The Chicago Reader was the first to report on PP's use of the Citizen Participation Act. Find more about the lawsuit here and here.

BY MIKE CETERA

What's left of the failed free WiFi service in Aurora could be shut down within two months, according to several reports over the weekend.

From the Wall Street Journal:

(Lucie Poulicakos, MetroFi's vice president of operations) said the company has approached the cities it serves, which also include Aurora, Ill.; San Jose, Calif.; and other Silicon Valley towns, with plans to sell their networks to them or another party. If no buyers emerge, the company will shut down the networks in 30 to 60 days.

BY MIKE CETERA

Amen.

I've always found it strange and slightly irritating that every time I drive through an I-Pass lane, I have to read a sign with Gov. Rod Blagojevich congratulating himself. I cop the same slightly annoyed attitude whenever I travel to the airport and must be welcomed by Richard M. Daley.

So, I'm all for a law that would ban "state officeholders from having their names appear on tax-subsidized billboards and electronic signs promoting government programs." Unfortunately, I don't think this bill goes far enough.

BY MIKE CETERA

So, Joe Birkett's son got caught in a pot bust. So what? Now we have confirmation his family isn't infallible either.

The arrest of Nicholas T. Birkett would have been relegated to the police blotter -- at best -- if he wasn't the son of the DuPage County state's attorney.

Instead, Joe's son becomes just another statistic in this country's "war on drugs." We are left to either empathize or mock a politician and his son.

BY MIKE CETERA

Stephanie Kifowit correctly points out in a story last week that she wouldn't be an alderman without the benefit of a primary.

Kifowit finished second in a three-way primary in 2002. During that same primary, former Aurora Alderman Kenneth Hinterlong bested current 5th Ward Alderman John "Whitey" Peters by 49 votes. Peters went on to win in the general election. But he, too, would be out of a job if it weren't for Aurora's primary system.

Interesting trivia, but so what?

BY MIKE CETERA

In 2007, Gov. Rod Blagojevich killed funding -- about $6 million -- for the anti-violence group CeaseFire, which had a fledgling Aurora chapter. An administration official at the time said the state could not afford to spend money on the program.

Nine months later, the governor on Tuesday proposed a $150 million anti-violence plan that encourages funding of "community-based programs (to) keep our children safe."

You see, now the governor wants to find a way to Stop. Killing. People.

If only there were a such a program out there...

But, wait, it gets better. The governor, in proposing his new Community Investment Works program, which -- as of yet -- has no funding source, appears to have used a rather flattering news story about what CeaseFire has accomplished to advocate his own plan. If CeaseFire is so great, why did he block funding?

BY MIKE CETERA

Parents who preach traditional values should be apoplectic. But there has been virtually no backlash over two local high schools' selections for spring musicals that deal in very adult issues. Have we turned a tolerance corner, or have people just stopped paying attention?

West Aurora High School just wrapped up its performance of "Rent," a rock opera that centers around a cast of gay characters struggling to make a life "under the shadow of AIDS." Related story here.

And Oswego High School is set to perform "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" later this week. "Sweeney Todd," is a musical revenge story about a barber turned serial killer. Related story here.

BY MIKE CETERA

Here's something nobody is talking about: Shootings are down, way down, in Aurora this year.

Through Wednesday, shootings had dropped by more than 50 percent when compared to the same time period last year, according to Aurora Police Department statistics.

The numbers
25 shootings between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2008
53 shootings between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2007

Those figures put Aurora on pace to record 75 shootings this year. Wow.