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* Gas prices climb 19 cents over 2 weeks

* General Motors files for bankruptcy protection

* Homophobic alderman? Possibility stirs rage

The City Council may soon have its first openly homophobic alderman. If Mayor Daley decides to appoint the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus to replace 26th Ward Ald. Billy Ocasio, Chicago’s GLBT activists might go ballistic. Then again, they might just punt.

Ocasio, who has resigned his seat and has signed on as a top adviser to Gov. Quinn, has asked Daley to appoint De Jesus, senior pastor of New Life Covenant Ministries, to replace him in the Humboldt Park ward.

De Jesus, an influential evangelical minister with 4,000 church members, has taken stands and uttered words that infuriate many in the city’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

* Temporary Leader for 26th Ward Office

* Privatization causes chain reaction: no meters, so no place to park bikes

“The Bike Program is already reviewing areas where meters have been removed for possible bike rack installation, based on requests from citizens and aldermen,” said Steele. He said the best way to request a bike rack is through the Bike Program’s Web site (chicagobikes.org/ bikeparking) or by calling 311. More than 11,000 bike racks have been installed citywide to date, and that number will continue to grow.

* RTA still isn’t using reform power it was granted

* Drop in ad revenue hurting CTA

Titan Worldwide is supposed to pay the CTA an annual guaranteed amount for ads — this year it’s $23.5 million — and pay a certain amount of that each month. In March, it was $600,000 short of its anticipated payment of $1.9 million.

Titan’s revenues for the year are down 25 percent around the United States, and it has fallen short on payments to transit agencies around the country.

“We’re in discussions with them on how to address it,” said CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney. “We expect them to meet their contractual obligation.”

If Titan isn’t able to meet its guaranty for the year, it will be another hit to the budget of the CTA, which is already struggling from decreased sales tax and real estate transfer tax revenues.

* City losing war against sight blight

* Traffic headaches begin today near Union Station

A reminder to motorists, pedestrians and anyone taking a bus to or from Union Station — Jackson Boulevard between Canal Street and Wacker Drive will close starting today through next spring for repairs to the viaduct.

* Jackson work alters bus routes

* Changes may clear way for local towns to save money on road salt

* The scandal at Rezko U.

The university president responded to the Tribune’s report with a dissembling statement as egregious as his school’s role in this admissions scheme. “First and most important, all admissions to the University of Illinois should be based on merit. . . .” B. Joseph White said. “[T]he Tribune makes no assertion that unqualified individuals were admitted to the University.”

False. As Friday’s paper reported, the Tribune’s investigation found that “University officials recognized that certain students were underqualified — but admitted them anyway. . . . University officials delayed admissions notification to weak candidates until the end of the school year to minimize the fallout at top feeder high schools.” That is, to hide blatant injustice.

White also tried to spin the customary defenses of public officials caught playing favorites: What happens here is no different than what happens at other schools; not that many applicants benefited; I think we deserve the public’s trust.

No, Mr. White. Neither you nor any other state official can justify cheating even one applicant. The questions here are grave:

* Two top-paid state hires on hot seat for U of I clout list

“The buck stops with Chancellor (Richard) Herman for the Urbana campus and with me for the entire University which includes the Urbana campus.”

Actually, a lot of bucks stop with both Herman and Joe White, the president of University of Illinois who wrote the above statement to me in an e-mail.

About a million dollars a year to pay their salaries, which are the two highest salaries paid in Illinois to any government employees.

* Sox fans know the score on the highways

posted by Mike Murray
Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 8:32 am

Comments

Would anyone expect Illinois universities to be beyond the corruption that is instutionalized in our politics-look at Southern Illinois University,run by a past politician as a political bureaucracy,with numerous charges of questionable conduct approved by a politically appointed group of political donors-the Board of Trustees.Some serious changes are needed statewide to reduce the moral corruption in our Higher Ed system

Comment by bugs Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 8:53 am
Scandal? You mean people try to use clout to get kids into institutions of higher learning? If the Trib does some real digging, they’ll be able to nail Socrates.

Comment by Big West Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 9:06 am
Homophobic alderman?

If the gay “community” is going to cry everytime someone, who disagrees with some of their extreme goals, are empowered to perform public service, we have to tell them to stop their whining - not hand them a tissue.

Supporting the gay political agenda should not become the litmus test for political or public service. Not supporting some of the more extreme gay agenda goals should not disqualify a fellow citizen to serve the public.

We live in a diverse society, that means everyone gets to be a part of it. No one is demanding that the gay “community” should lose their political rights, why can’t they live by those same fair standards?

Their protests are ridiculous. If they persist, they will end up hitting a very hard wall of reality. They will not get respect when they do not show it.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 9:13 am
Drop in revenue hurting CTA? ….they raised their rates when gas prices were high, they are getting stimulus money to redo some lines, they should be making more revenue, especially when the price of gas went down 50% from when they raised rates (currently gas is about 40-45% down from when they raised rates)

Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 9:43 am
Nice 5-1 road trip for the Sox, particularly a big getaway day win against the previously untouchable Greinke.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 11:10 am
In the everything-is-connected theme, I work for a non-profit that last year spent $28,000 on CTA ads. Titan Worldwide was wonderful to work with, and the ads were very effective. But like lots of other non-profits, our fundraising is in the toilet. If you look at the CTA ads, you’ll see that many of them are from non-profits. We’re hurting now and will hurt much more with these state budget cuts. Advertising is an easy first budget cut compared to the ones to come.

Comment by Ann Monday, Jun 1, 09 @ 2:12 pm
Doesn’t University of Illinois basketball head coach Bruce Weber make more than either of those two guys? Isn’t he the highest paid state employee?

Comment by mighty M. Mouse Tuesday, Jun 2, 09 @ 9:17 am