Couple of stories to cover. First up, the heat must be getting to Burke:
- When Ald. Edward Burke arrives at City Hall, it's in a city-owned car driven by nattily dressed bodyguards, complete with Secret Service-style earpieces.
It's been that way for decades, even as the racially charged Council Wars era that once made Burke such a controversial and perhaps targeted political figure has faded into history.
Now, at a time of tight budgets and a police shortage, the alderman with $8 million in his campaign fund finds himself defending the bodyguard contingent, which takes four full-time officers off the streets.
Maybe instead of bodyguards, Burke could get a sign that says, "I'm important!"
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Next up, an arbitrator makes a good decision:
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Next up, an arbitrator makes a good decision:
Chicago Police officers have won the right to a 24-hour cooling-off period from the time they shoot someone to the time they must speak to an independent investigator.
The Independent Police Review Authority last year insisted on speaking to officers within two hours of a police-involved shooting.
The feds get at least 48 hours and LAPD gets three days. The reasoning for 24 hours seems specious - it gives an officer a “proper sleep cycle,” but seriously, who's going to get a decent night sleep after a gunfight? It's a step in the right direction though.
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Lura Lynn Ryan passed away:
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Lura Lynn Ryan passed away:
- The former Illinois governor, imprisoned for his crimes, persuaded a federal warden in Terre Haute, Ind., to let him out for a few hours Monday. He made it back to his wife's bedside at a Kankakee hospital. Just before 11 p.m., she was taken off a respirator and died, following a long battle with cancer. She was 76.
Chicago Police are crediting the “diligence” of a commander for approaching a large group of teens outside Water Tower Place Monday night, leading to the arrest of a man who had a loaded handgun.
[...] Near North District police Sgt. Kenneth Angarone was deploying his officers on foot patrol about 6:45 p.m. Monday in the 800 block of North Michigan Avenue when he noticed a big group of teens leaving Water Tower Place....
We're sure the honor student was just headed to a gun "turn-in" at the local Make Believe church when accosted by the police.