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* Final Burr Oak defendant is released on bond

Cook County Sheriff’s officials say someone posted $25,000 cash bond for Carolyn Towns on Thursday afternoon. She left Cook County Jail around 4 p.m.

Towns was a former manager at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. She was being held on $250,000 bond.

* 1 in 5 domestic violence protection orders not served

Attorney general pushes counties to notify abusers

* Sheriff Dart May Appeal Judge’s Craiglist Ruling

* Former Tribune editors to supply New York Times with Chicago content

Former Chicago Tribune newsroom managers have created a venture that is making its debut in local editions of the New York Times.

The Chicago News Cooperative will provide two pages of local content, primarily political news, in the Friday and Sunday editions of the New York Times starting Nov. 20.

Chicago News Cooperative is being led by Jim O’Shea, former editor of the Los Angeles Times and former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. Jim Warren, a former managing editor for features at the Tribune, will contribute a regular column.

* Fate of legendary black publications unknown

But for the first time in its long history, the magazine, along with its sister publication Jet, could be up for sale. The Chicago-based, privately owned Johnson Publishing Co. has not denied recent news reports that it is shopping for a buyer for the magazines.

“We are exploring a range of options to support our core media business,” spokeswoman Wendy E. Parks said in a written statement. “However, we are not in discussions with Time Inc. and Viacom.” Parks, and others at Johnson, declined to be interviewed for this story.

* Durbin to discuss immigration policy at DePaul

* Party-line vote on new consumer watchdog

* Expect delays this weekend on Blue, Brown, Red Lines

* Students protest race discrimination at Chicago bar during senior class trip

* Students from Washington University in St. Louis raise civil rights complaints about Original Mother’s club in Chicago

posted by Mike Murray
Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 9:34 am

Comments

John H. Johnson was a giant, a true Horatio Alger story. When he made made his headquarters on South Michigan Avenue, it was an announcement that real change was on the way.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 9:50 am
Maybe the Cliff’s Notes nature of Morning Shorts is too abbreviated for this topic; and perhaps it may deserve its own section, but every Chicago tax payer should devote some time to this story today, or over the weekend, and read the related background stories as well:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-chicago-shadow-tif-budget/Content?oid=1218391

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:03 am
The story about The Original Mother’s is a shame. The people that run that place are class acts without a racist bone in their bodies. The idea that this was done based upon race is absurd.

Too many clubs are too willing to take the money of the gangbangers and in doing so, destroy the neighborhoods of the clubs. These kids went out dressed like thugs (no matter that they actually were not) and the owners stood up to it. And for that, they are accused of racism.

More business owners need to do what the people who run Mothers have done, and stand up to the thugs and the people who glorify them. This was not racism. This was a business owner standing up and saying “No thugs in my place. Want to go out dressed like thugs? Go someplace else.

Comment by OdysseusVL Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:11 am
How much is this ‘War on Prostitution’ costing the taxpayers?

End the War on Prostitution, please. Legalize it.

Comment by Leroy Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:13 am
They were dressed like thugs? Are you kidding me? How did you decide this? And how do you explain the white kid wearing the same pants (which were baggier on him) getting in with no question? That’s a classic case of racism with a test to demonstrate it.

These are incredibly bright young men who were dressed like their classmates.

Comment by ArchPundit Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:16 am
Quinn, you’re spot on about the TIFS. The Reader has been doing a good job keeping the heat on, but unfortunately, the dailies must think it’s too complex or not sexy enough (forget about TV).

There’s real money in those slush funds and they’re not on the radar for most taxpayers.

Jackie Leavy and the Neigbhorhood Capital Development Group used to drive Daley nuts holding his feet to the fire on TIFS, but alas, they folded for lack of funding. They were a heck of a friend to the taxpayers and businesses all over the city.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:22 am
Arch,
1. Other black students were allowed in.
2. The irrate people wearing backwards ball caps were not.
As a Chicago residents, I’m glad that somebody is standing up like this. I wish the club where the Tank Johnson shooting occurred would have taken similar steps, and I would like to see a few places on Ontario and Ohio do the same.
Want to be let in? It is simple. Get rid of the baggy jeans, the white t-shirt and the crooked ball caps. That glorification of thug life needs to end.

Comment by OdysseusVL Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:23 am
I second wordslinger’s comments. PI has covered the TIF story admirably as well, including a piece on some reforms. And David Greising at the mothership has touched on it, although it’s typically couched in implicit praise of Daley.

I would hope that the GA takes a serious look at putting the kibosh on this city hall slush fund, since the city council is unwilling to do so.

Comment by The Doc Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 10:30 am
OdysseusVL just an FYI when I learned of this story I was not surprised because many of my friends (professional African Americans) have had similar experiences at Mother’s.

Comment by wndycty Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 3:17 pm
wndycty,

And with all due respect to your friends, how were they dressed at the time? The owners of Mothers have avoided many of the problems that other places in the area have had because the owners say no to the thugs and those who look like or glorify thugs. You don’t hear about shooting and violence at their clubs as you do others. If the owners wanted to put one of their places in Streeterville, I would welcome them. They treat the neighbors well.

The community needs to step up on this one and stop glorifying these guys. I’m glad that at least one bar owner has put his foot down. Crooked ball cap? Oversized white t-shirt? Low slung jeans? Then don’t come in.

By the way, the low slung pants come from the jails, were the bad guys don’t have belts. The fact that so many young people copy this style is really troublesome.

Comment by OdysseusVL Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 3:25 pm
OdysseusVL, one of the white kids exchanged his pants with one of the black kids and they let the white kid in and not the black kid.

Also, several white kids with the low-slung pants were allowed in, but not the black kids.

When I was a teenager, oldsters used to complain all the time about “elephant” bell-bottom jeans. I know it’s not the same thing, but after reading both those stories and other stuff about Mothers, I’m left wondering what is really going on there.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 3:28 pm
To make this point as clear as anyone can, these very bright Wash U students performed a test by having a student dress in the same pants which were baggier on him. This works exactly like Fair Housing tests where people with similar backgrounds test housing practices with the only significant variable being race.

Mother’s failed. These aren’t dumb kids and they aren’t backing down. They are also kids with a lot of friends who know how to work the system, not some poor group of guys who just show up randomly at a bar. Mother’s can take responsibility for the discrimination by their employees now and it will only be slightly embarrassing or they can do it after legal processes are complete. It won’t be as easy then.

Comment by ArchPundit Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 3:41 pm
Arch and Rich,

Initially, Rich, this is not a question that the owners just did not like a certain style. It concerned a particular style patterned after gangmembers. There is a massive difference between the pants you wore and the pants that these kids wear. Your pants were not inspired by prison attire.

Further, if you read the stories (at least the Trib story — funny the other one leave out this out and in the photo on that story, the kid’s hat is turned forward — strange) it was not just the pants. It was the hats and then the demeanor.

When people wearing baggy jeans and backwards baseball hats start screaming, are they really making their case or helping their cause?

These smart kids are dressed in a manner that glorifies gangbangers and thugs. They may get good grades, but if they continue to dress in that manner they will continue to have similar problems.

Discrimination is real.
Racism is real.
This is neither. This is kids who act and dress in a manner that glorifies thugs but who, when called on it, claim racism. That’s almost an insult to the very real victims of racism. We need to put a stop to this sort of glorification of the gangbangers and thugs. I’m glad that at least one bar owner is finally doing it.

Comment by OdysseusVL Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 3:59 pm
===These smart kids are dressed in a manner that glorifies gangbangers and thugs. They may get good grades, but if they continue to dress in that manner they will continue to have similar problems.

No, I see three of these kids dressed as they were on that night on a fairly regular basis. They do not dress like ‘thugs’. They dress like young men at a top tier institution. A bit sloppy at times, but generally as their white colleagues do. In fact, the white students have indicated to me the black students were dressed better than many of the white students.

The backward hats were never mentioned to them as a reason they were being excluded–it has become a reason afterwards. Of course, this is silly given two of the excluded students were the two who had set up the event and thus, pretty obviously not gangbangers and would have been happy to turn around their hats or even take them off after being told of a dress code, but the bouncers never mentioned the hats to them.

These young men don’t glorify gangbangers.They glorify hard work and high achievement. Suggesting that they act like some sort of street hoods when they are some of the most responsible students at a top tier research university isn’t credible. Trying to use the notion that they responded to clear racism with frustration as evidence they were not acting appropriately smacks of Jim Crow logic where if someone acts offended by racism, they are clearly at fault for it.

But again, why did the white kid get in with pants on that were even baggier on him?

There are dozens of students who saw the men before they attempted to enter Mother’s. Many of those students are high achieving campus leaders. Everyone of them I have heard from or heard of backs up the excluded students description. Who is more credible here? A bar manager and bouncers or those students?

Comment by ArchPundit Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 4:20 pm
OdysseusVL go ahead a defend Mother’s all you want, however this has been boiling over for some time and I expect the heat to get tuned up on them. As a said I have heard stories for years about Mother’s and have refused to step foot in there for some time and I encourage others to avoid the place as well. Their racist and inconsistent enforcement of their dress code (the white kids dressed the same way got it) means that Mother’s doesn’t want my business.

It will be interesting to see how this thing plays out.

Comment by wndycty Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 4:26 pm
Arch,

When you wear your hat backwards into a club and you wear low slung pants you glorify the thugs. That is the message sent by those clothes. Smart kids should understand.

Or maybe they should have brought transcripts, since we all know that all kids who get good grades always behave well. We’ve never heard of kids with good grades doing stupid stuff, have we? They were smart. They must be correct, right?

Black kids got into the bar that night. These kids did not. There was a reason, which according to the Tribune (none of us was there, so that seems to be the most reliable source) had to do with the pants, the hats, and then the demeanor.

The bottom line remains that Mothers is doing something right. I’ve heard of far too many shootings and far too much violence associated with places around there, but Mothers has never been part of that activity. The reason is that they’ve put their foot down.

Arch, these kids need to learn to stop behaving in a manner that glorifies thugs. Top students should know better. These kids did not and when they were called on it, they behaved even worse.

I’m a bit suprised by your response, Arch. I’ve never considered you to have knee jerk reactions, but this definitely appears to be such a reaction. You have two conflicting stories of the events, and yet you give 100% credibilty to one side. There sure seems to be a lot of gray here though.

Comment by OdysseusVL Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 4:41 pm
===This is neither. ===

Since white kids got in with the same clothes as the black kids who were excluded, there’s almost assuredly more to this than you are willing to admit.

Respond to the facts, not your predetermined views on things.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 4:44 pm
Rich, I am responding to the facts. It was not just the pants. From the Tribune story:

“Holding a sheaf of Chicago police gang intelligence reports and pointing to security video of two black members of the group with backward ball caps, Mother’s human resource manager Dan Benson said gang violence was common nearby, and that other black patrons were allowed in. “It’s an unfortunate situation,” Benson said. . . . Benson said the manager nearly let the black students in until they crowded him, shouting, and the situation went downhill.”

The Tribune also describes a video of things getting heated.

Comment by OdysseusVL Friday, Oct 23, 09 @ 4:50 pm