Morning shorts
Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Ex-prison watchdog indicted in kickbacks
* Another tragedy for former AG Ryan; more here
Tragedy visited the family of former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan yet again Sunday night. His youngest son, Patrick, 24, apparently committed suicide in the family home in Elmhurst, police said.
Police don’t ordinarily make public announcements about suicides. But when they have to block off the neighborhood for hours near the home of the former Republican candidate for governor, police can’t go by the usual rule book, Elmhurst Police Chief Steve Neubauer said.
* Former Congressman Sangmeister dies
* Tribune Editorial: Too old to be a judge?
* IL kids to be focus of research on child human health
* Tribune Editorial: State corking the wine trade
* Uniform speed limit in Illinois: Pro vs. Con
* Opinion: Studies support reasoning of uniform speed limit
Trucking companies have long documented their accident reports state-by-state, and those statistics show that a disproportionate number of accidents occur in those states with split speed limits. In fact, safety has been, and will always be, the top priority of the trucking industry.
Truckers are some of the most regulated workers — they are required to undergo mandatory drug and alcohol testing, are limited to the number of hours they can drive and must submit their equipment for safety tests. No such laws exist for the everyday automobile driver.
* Illinois get a look at details of the smoking ban
* Sun-Times Editorial: To get Olympics, Chicago has to play the game
* Big Chicago law firm settles suit for $27.5 million
* Mark Brown: Scrapping park shows your tax dollars at work
After spending as much as $2 million to build a sculpture park on a corner lot in Bronzeville, the city of Chicago is scrapping the partially completed project and offering the land for sale to developers.
The park was supposed to be another anchor in former 3rd Ward Ald. Dorothy Tillman’s long-touted plans for a “Chicago Blues District” along 47th Street, but her replacement, Ald. Pat Dowell, has decided Tillman’s plan is unfeasible and that the property would be better used for commercial development.
* Successful city schools seek to branch out
* Pritzker lobbies aldermen on museum site
* Chicago Public Radio: Hospital workers strike Roseland for a day
- so-called "Austin Mayor" - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 8:30 am:
My sincere condolences to the friends and family of Patrick Ryan.
– SCAM
- Fan of the Game - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 8:37 am:
Prayers to the family of Patrick Ryan. I’ve seen enough of suicide to know the toll it takes on families.
Jim Ryan would have made a solid–if unexciting–governor, and I wish our state had his guiding hand. However, at this time I wish his family the strength to cope with this tragedy.
- phocion - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 8:40 am:
Paul, I really think it would be appropriate to place Mr. Ryan’s tragedy in a separate section.
- Purple Hayes - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 8:44 am:
I would also like to add my condolences for the Ryan family. All of us with children can truly sympathize with their thoughts and feelings at a difficult time like this.
On a different note, in light of our attempts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and so many saying a uniform speed would be the safest, why don’t we change the speed limit to 55 instead of 65? We all know if it’s 65, many will drive 75. By the same rationale, if it were to become 55 again, wouldn’t many drivers run at 65? 55 and 65 would surely save millions of barrels of oil vs. 65 and 75.
- Loop Lady - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 9:31 am:
So sad…my prayers go out to the Ryan family…
- Redbright - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 9:32 am:
Isn’t the IOC looking for active support from American companies for the 2016 Olympics. They want to see executives from global brands — companies that will still be around when the event happens.
The IOC knows that today’s elected officials are not likely to be in office in 2016. It’s the McDonalds, Motorolas and Microsofts that will still be here.
- Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 10:12 am:
It’s refreshing to finally see some relevant statistics in this debate over the uniform speed limit. There’s a lot of uniformed hysteria surrounding this issue based on conventional wisdom and inadequate experience.
Personally I’ve easily driven over 100,000 miles on interstates around the country and I have no doubt it’s the differential that’s the problem, not the speed itself. So it’s nice to see the overwhelming statistical evidence. Personally I suspect the desire to keep the truck limit artificially low is more about revenue than about safety.
- Levois - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 12:13 pm:
Mr. Richardson you got a story from about my general neck of the woods. LOL!!!
- Paul Richardson - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 12:25 pm:
Oh yea? And where is that?
- Son of a Gun - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 12:49 pm:
I’m not a truck driver, but I know an idiot when I see one and it’s usually the daffy car driver trying to talk on the cell phone, pick their nose and drive at the same time. Trucks have that bar across the lower back of their vehicle for one reason - to keep that idiot car driver from plowing into them because they aren’t paying attention.
I drive Missouri all the time, and you don’t see the crazy “road runner” cartoon traffic over there that you see in Illinois. Traffic moves a heck of a lot better in Missouri because they use COMMON SENSE when setting their speed limit.
- Son of a Gun - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 12:50 pm:
Oh, I forgot….Missouri has a 70 speed limit for both cars and trucks.
- Skeeter - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 3:10 pm:
Nice to see Alderman Solis siding with the Mayor against the local alderman over an issue where the local alderman holds strong views.
His soon to be well-funded opponent for 2011 is being drafted as we speak.
- Quinn the Eskimo - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 5:00 pm:
Do you want to reduce dependence on foreign oil?
Drill in ANWR. Now.
- fed up dem - Tuesday, Oct 9, 07 @ 8:30 pm:
Rich, this is a new topic, but see if you can find out what the governor’s office wanted board/committe members for IDFPR to sign and why the Nursing Committee was disbanded meaning the Department can’t do anything to bad nurses.