Saturday is a throwaway newspaper day. Anything that shouldn't see the light of day goes in the Saturday rag. Here's what Sneed had in her column:
- Chicago’s murder rate, which had been sky rocketing off the charts early this year, has eased up dramatically.
* Background: The first 23 days of 2012 saw a 74 percent increase in murders compared to the same time period last year (from 19 murders in 2011 to 33 this year).
* Foreground: As of Friday, statistics show the murder rate is now only 9 percent greater than it was this time last year (from 44 murders in 2011 up to 48 in 2012).
* The reason: Police spokesman [...], citing preliminary information, attributed the drop to a recent saturation of police resources in the 7th and 11th districts — which accounted for nearly one third of this year’s murders.
So all those resources poured into 007 and 011, two communities that have been at war with each other as well as the police for nearly 50 years now, and all we have to show for it is that the city murder rate is still rising.....but at least it's rising slower.
That's what passes for good news around here - it's only up 9%.
That's what passes for good news around here - it's only up 9%.