Morning shorts
Monday, Feb 4, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Cubs suitors want Wrigley Field
Tribune Co.’s proposal to sell Wrigley Field to the state is alienating would-be buyers of the Chicago Cubs who say owning the team without the iconic stadium would be like a day in the bleachers without a cold beer.
“The Cubs and Wrigley Field are so intertwined. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” says a member of one bidding group who requested anonymity because of Major League Baseball’s sensitivity about the sale process. “Splitting them absolutely diminishes the value of the team and my interest level.”
* Judge won’t dismiss governor’s suit
Circuit Judge Leo Zappa refused a motion to dismiss the case filed by attorneys for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
* Coal gasification cleanup to start in Jacksonville, Pana
* City’s tech star fading from view
The loss of Motorola Inc.’s cell phone business would reduce Chicago to a pin-dot on the global technology map and set the stage for the dismantling of a giant that helped shape the region’s corporate landscape for generations.
* Rezko is rapidly gaining national name recognition
* Jailed Rezko agrees to push back his trial
* Endorse remorse; it’s not a friendly task
* How the primary election works in Illinois
* What’s the law?
* Republican Senate candidates have little experience but firm opinions
- Garp - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 9:44 am:
I would be willing to bet the delay is because the attorneys need more time to hammer out a deal. Otherwise Rezco won’t be out of jail for years. I know he is innocent until proven guilty but his case is a loser and if they won’t let him out when considered innocent-they sure won’t let him out on appeal.
- Crimefighter - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 9:47 am:
Andy Martin says he doesn’t support local police enforcing federal immigration laws…that is enough to render him completely unelectable.
- IncrediblyDumberThanYouTHink - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 9:57 am:
Hooray for Slick Willie Quinlan’s smashing of the Devil Madigan in court. Dismiss our case. No way Jose.
What a legal gem he is.
Quick send some cash to all the outside lawyers he has been using. And remember mum’s the word on their involvement.
And make sure they sign up for the free bus rides too.
BTW anyone want the Blaggodiot to campaign for/against them before Tuesday.
We got time.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 9:58 am:
Last week we had good economic news, but today’s news blows that out of the water. Chicago is once again losing a major industry and a vital future.
“[The end of Motorola]would spell the end of a defining presence on the local business scene that rose to prominence in the 1930s as a maker of car radios and played a leading role in the evolution of technology during the post-war era with two-way radios, color televisions, semiconductors, pagers and cell phones.”
Just as Detroiters are hoping the future includes them, Chicagoans are watching Motorola disappear and refusing to see the economic threat this holds for all of us.
Screw the political news! Losing Motorola is a bigger issue than who will be the next freaking president.
- cermak_rd - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 10:30 am:
Crimefighter,
Why should my local taxes be spent enforcing federal rules? That’s why I pay federal taxes, so that ICE can do its enforcement. Now, that’s not to say that if someone is convicted of a crime, and it turns out they are undocumented, they shouldn’t be sent back, but local police should not do routine immigration checks. Among other things, it leads to pockets of communities that are afraid of police and therefore won’t call them when they have a problem, which leads to dark corners where crime can thrive.
- Big W - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 11:36 am:
Just another example of the great business atmosphere here in ILLINOIS……We should say bye to the GOVERNOR instead of Motorola!
I fell bad for all the employee’s, their the ones screwed by the state of the STATE!
- Hello, Moto, goodbye - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 12:56 pm:
I worked for Moto in a plant in Schaumburg long ago. They had ahuge run of bad luck coupled with mad management reaction to that luck. At one point, they had put up the Riridium sat phone system, had a contact making clnes of Apple mac computers that were cheap and fast, plus they had a deal going with Scientific Atlanta for digital set-top boxes. Any two of those deals working would have made Moto almost as big as Microsoft.
Steve Jobs came back to Apple and killed off the mac clone business. Iridium could not get enough subscribers and Moto auctioned off the remainder of the network for pennies on the dollar. The guy who bought Iridium turned around and made a killing selling airtime to the military and military contractors from the Gulf War onwards. The set top market collapsed because Congress delayed the digital transition and killed the market (which springs back to life next year finally).
Meanwhile, while all that was going on, Moto management took their eye off the phone business that was their anchor, and Ericsson and Nokia ate their lunch.
This is a company that is kind of like the cubs, approaching but never quite achieving the greatness. I think however that divestiture right now may be premature, with the set-top digital TV converter/DVR/ entertainment center market about to explode.
- Crimefighter - Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 2:46 pm:
MOD: Oh come on, what I posted was factual and googling “illegal immigrant crime” will bring up a ton of hits backing up what I said.