Chicago Sun-Times back issues from December 2008:
Michelle at the crossroads
Dec 01, 2008; ... Michelle Obama may be the pride of the South Side, but her undergraduate years at Princeton also helped shape her worldview. A new biography, Michelle (Simon & Schuster), by Washington Post reporter Liza Mundy, delves into Obama's years at the elite university, in particular Obama's ...
City has plenty of salt to throw at snow
Dec 01, 2008; ... With the season's first significant snowfall expected this week, Chicago officials say they are ready with an army of trucks and a mountain of salt. Streets and Sanitation Department spokesman Matt Smith said the city has arranged for 425,000 tons of salt for this winter. Last ...
Obama, Clinton: Rivalry out, diplomacy in
Dec 01, 2008; ... President-elect Barack Obama dramatically starts to define his presidency with the selection today of his former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state. As Chicagoans may know of the great architect who influenced the planning of their city, it was Daniel Burnham who ...
Service 'was like going back 50 years'
Dec 01, 2008; ... Fifty years is a long time to cry. Della Maffiola wept again Sunday as she remembered her son Joseph, killed in the Our Lady of the Angels school fire 50 years ago today. "It feels like yesterday,'' she said. Joseph, 10, and 91 other students and three nuns who died in ...
1 real estate deal, 2 ex-aldermen
Dec 01, 2008; ... As a brash, young lawyer in 1969, William Singer became a champion of Chicago's lakefront liberals by defeating the late Mayor Richard J. Daley's political machine to win a seat on the City Council. Six years later, Singer's political career crashed when he ran for mayor and Daley ...
Job has its ups and downs
Dec 01, 2008; ... It's late fall at the 95th Street bridgehouse over the Calumet River. All of the sailboats are in, the sky is blue, the road and water are still free of ice, and the pace is slow. This is the time Gerald H. Walkup likes best. "I like it when it's like this," said Walkup, a bridgetender ...
'I better get back to school'
Dec 01, 2008; ... Patricia Slagle spent 25 years as a hair stylist, but as the economy worsened she started nursing school at Moraine Valley Community College this fall because her family is "definitely feeling it.'' After 12 years as a flight attendant, Joel La Rocca is training to become a respiratory ...
Waiting overnight for Black Friday an act of insanity
Dec 01, 2008; ... Every time I write about the insane mind-set that leads thousands of seemingly normal humans to cut short their Thanksgiving holidays so they can stand in line in a parking lot to buy Christmas presents, I hear from some of those people who lined up for hours in the dark. They didn't ...
Investigative team here focuses on human traffickers
Dec 01, 2008; ... Two years ago, when federal authorities got a tip about a sex ring operating between here and Boston, Chicago cops set up a sting at the Congress Hotel. There, two women -- one had been advertised on an escort service Web site -- were arrested. But the investigation did not stop ...
New life for ex-prostitute
Dec 01, 2008; ... Marian Hatcher was 38 and had a good accounting career when she first picked up hard drugs, snatching a cocaine-laced cigarette from a pal and inhaling. She was stressed out and angry because her boyfriend at the time had lost her money in his drug dealing. The drug, she said, made her ...
Did kids with lighter set fire?
Dec 01, 2008; ... A day after a South Side house fire claimed the life of a 2-year-old boy, police and fire investigators Sunday were trying to determine whether the blaze was sparked by children playing with a lighter. Jaquin Roby died from carbon monoxide intoxication he suffered in the Saturday night ...
News in Brief
Dec 01, 2008 ... ALTGELD GARDENS PERSON SHOT BY POLICE Police shot a person on the Far South Side Sunday in the area of the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex. The shooting happened about 1:15 a.m. at East 131st Street and South Langley. An officer shot the person, who was taken to an area ...
A chilling encounter with gas company
Dec 01, 2008; ... THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU $543,820 Dear Fixer: I woke at 2 a.m. on a Saturday and noticed it was cold in my house. I have an exotic bird, so I turned the heat on -- long story short, the heat and hot water were off. I went outside and found a lock on my meter. I called Nicor and ...
Dream home detour: I-57 interchange ousts family
Dec 01, 2008; ... At the shiny new house guarded by two concrete lions on a cul-de-sac in Posen, Volare O'Connor saw a place to plant roots. He and his wife bought the home on California Avenue in the south suburb for $265,000 in 2006. They made plans to have a family, starting with their first child last ...
Chicagopedia
Dec 01, 2008 ... spray paint /SPRAY paynt/ n. Aerosol spray paint was invented locally by Edward Seymour of Sycamore, inspired by his new bride, Bonnie. She was spraying air freshener when she remarked how great it would be to have aerosol paint. In 1949, Seymour came up ...
Clinton-haters, get real
Dec 01, 2008; ... OPENING SHOT ... Extreme Clinton Hatred was the previous pathology to grip the Republican Party, before it was infected with Obamaphobia. Now that Hillary Clinton is being nominated as Barack Obama's secretary of state, we can expect the cry that our next president is somehow re-creating ...
News in Brief
Dec 01, 2008 ... CALIFORNIA ENDEAVOUR RETURNS Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday, taking a detour to Edwards Air Force Base in sunny California after storms hit the main landing strip in Florida. The shuttle wrapped up a 16-day trip that left the ...
Web site gives job-seeker face time with interviewer
Dec 01, 2008; ... Just as the days of mailing out a resume and hoping for the best may be long gone, Daniel Gallagher says it's equally futile to merely post a resume on an Internet job search site. In a YouTube, video-on-demand age, prospective employers are looking for face time with job-seekers, even ...
Black base determined to 'keep the seat'
Dec 01, 2008; ... The joker is wild. The joker, a k a Gov. Blagojevich, is at the center of the state's hottest political adventure. Last week, amid the chattering din at political operative Thom Serafin's holiday soiree, I put the question of the season to Rich Miller: "Who will Blagojevich anoint as Barack ...
Rep. Jackson is our choice to be senator
Dec 01, 2008 ... U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is our choice to be the next U.S. senator from Illinois. Though Gov. Blagojevich, who must pick a replacement in the Senate for President-elect Barack Obama, finds himself with no shortage of qualified candidates, we believe Jackson has earned the job and ...
Talk back
Dec 01, 2008 ... CARTOON A SURE SIGN THE TIMES ARE CHANGING I couldn't believe my eyes. A positive editorial cartoon by Jack Higgins on Barack Obama. This is truly a year of change. 3RD CLINTON ADMINISTRATION Barack Obama often talks about change, but all I see is a third Clinton ...
New role for disabled cops
Dec 01, 2008; ... Maybe the City of Chicago could take some of the disabled officers who are able to drive and put them in older squad cars equipped with cameras. All they would have to do is drive around the city and let the camera get the plate numbers of people with broken windshields or burned out ...
Juror to Durbin: Don't try to help Ryan
Dec 01, 2008; ... Editor's note: Below is an edited excerpt of a letter sent to Sen. Dick Durbin from a juror on the corruption case of former Gov. George Ryan. My name is Kevin Rein, and I would like to express my opinion on the subject of an early release for George Ryan. I think it is important for you ...
All taxing units must share cost of relief
Dec 01, 2008; ... If Cook County Assessor James Houlihan's plan for property tax assistance for struggling homeowners is approved, why must the county and municipalities fund the relief? Municipalities are typically 5 percent to 10 percent of the tax bill. Under Houlihan's proposal, they would be responsible for ...
Pfleger for Senate
Dec 01, 2008; ... Please, no Danny Davis, Emil Jones, or any other person of their ilk for senator. I hope the governor selects someone like Father Pfleger -- an individual who has been consistently fighting the murder and drug ...
Privacy in public? Don't count on it
Dec 01, 2008; ... On a warm summer day two years ago, a 16-year-old girl put on a skirt and headed to the SuperTarget in her hometown of Tulsa, Okla. As she shopped the air-conditioned aisles, a man knelt behind her, carefully slid a camera in between her bare legs and snapped a photo of her underwear. Police ...
Giant of General Motors wouldn't stand for this
Dec 01, 2008; ... As GM staggers toward either bailout or bankruptcy, I am reminded that the big financial meltdown began just around the 100th anniversary of its founding, Sept. 16. Some birthday gift. The giant corporation's misery resonates for me because 30 years ago, I completed a biography of its founder, ...
Phelps swims freestyle
Dec 01, 2008; ... While Olympic hero Michael Phelps has been spending a lot of time with Caroline ''Caz'' Pal the past couple of months -- and reportedly took her home to Baltimore for Thanksgiving -- I'm hearing the swimming speed demon isn't exactly in an exclusive relationship with the Las Vegas cocktail ...
Scurrilous: Chicago's No. 1 Couch Potato
Dec 01, 2008 ... BRITNEY WORKS OUT IS SHE BUFF ENOUGH? Britney Spears has been dieting desperately to prepare for her career re-launch, reports the Daily Mail. Get this: "Friends of the star claim she is going to extreme measures to look in top shape ... A source said: 'She goes to bed ...
Nada Surf pounds the Metro crowd
Dec 01, 2008; ... Matthew Caws is an illusionist. His blonde curls, baby face and slight frame suggest that the music of Nada Surf, the trio he serves as lead guitarist and songwriter, might be twee and good for naps. Saturday at Metro, Caws and company demonstrated that would be impossible. Nada Surf may ...
Girlfriend runs out -- awkwardly her lease hasn't
Dec 01, 2008; ... Dear Ellie: My girlfriend of six years broke up with me one month ago, but insisted she had no one else. I'd already suspected she was cheating with this new "friend" and said so while we were together. I soon heard from mutual friends that they're now a couple. When confronted, she said ...
A cute boy who won't seek sex
Dec 01, 2008; ... Bloodsucking vampires used to be the stuff of nightmares. Now they are the stuff of young girls' dreams. Forget the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync'ers of yesteryear. Tween girls these days swoon for vampires, and, more specifically, Edward Cullen of Twilight fame. But don't be ...
Blagojevich taps deputy gov Martinez
Dec 01, 2008 ... Gov. Blagojevich will appoint Dean Martinez today deputy governor for economic development and business regulation. Martinez, 33, has been secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The governor's office also said Michael ...
'Americans seem excited to go shopping again'
Dec 01, 2008; ... Thanksgiving weekend provided a fast start to the holiday shopping season, but retailers said Sunday they haven't forgotten that they'll need to work hard to clear their shelves. For shoppers, that means discounts and promotions will continue as stores try to eke out a profit in a grim ...
Eos is up and playing very quickly
Dec 01, 2008; ... I have the attention span of an amoeba. My browser brain is physically incapable of spending more than 45 seconds reading an instruction manual. If a newly purchased electronic device is not fully operational within minutes of being removed from its box, it will linger in the attic or home ...
Accomplishments big for little Seton
Dec 01, 2008; ... Seton has been coed for about six years. But Tony Nixon still gets the same question. ''People ask me all the time, 'Oh, isn't that an all-girls school?''' said Nixon, a 6-5 senior forward on the Sting's boys basketball team. ''We can change that [perception] by showing it on the court ....
Boys Super 25
Dec 01, 2008; ... 1 N. Lawndale 0-0 (1) Hosts Hales on Wednesday 2 Young 0-0 (2) Faces St. Benedict (N.J.) Sat. in Ky. 3 Zion-Benton 5-0 (3) Worthington can play 4 Simeon 0-0 (4) Opens with Oak Hill on Sat. in Ky. 5 De La Salle 3-0 (9) Three ...
Girls Super 25
Dec 01, 2008; ... 1 Young 6-0 (1) Harris has a sore ankle 2 Wheeling 6-0 (6) Cannon scored 25 vs. Fenwick 3 Bolingbrook 1-1 (3) Morgan Tuck has a knee issue 4 Fenwick 4-1 (2) Nuzzo contributes the three 5 T.F. North 4-0 (5) Wrapped up ...
Shutout loss caps 'tough weekend'
Dec 01, 2008; ... Playing their third game in 40 hours, the Wolves defended well enough to win Sunday at Allstate Arena behind some excellent goaltending by Robert Gherson. But Grand Rapids Griffins center Evan McGrath scored the game's lone goal at even strength at 7:24 of the second period. The 1-0 ...
Parsons lifts New Trier Green
Dec 01, 2008; ... If there's one high school hockey player who knows how quickly things can go from bad to good, it's New Trier Green senior goalie Dave Parsons. After being pulled during the Trevians' come-from-behind victory Saturday over Fenwick, Parsons saved New Trier in its 4-3 victory Sunday night ...
Wes is best: Malott wins PBA event
Dec 01, 2008; ... They call him ''The Big Nasty,'' but 6-5, 250-pound Wes Malott gave a sweet performance on the lanes Sunday at the Pro Bowlers Association Tour's CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship. The 32-year-old from Argyle, Texas, won his fourth career title by outlasting Ken Simard of ...
Capt. Annika gets double the pleasure
Dec 01, 2008 ... Annika Sorenstam celebrated two big triumphs Sunday in the Lexus Cup in Singapore, her second-to-last event before retiring. For starters, the International team captain waited out a lightning delay to finish off Asian team captain Se Ri Pak 3 and 2 in the opening singles match, the ...
Avoiding 0-10 record is Big Ten's Challenge
Dec 01, 2008; ... When you're playing a conference that's often in the conversation for best in the country, the matchups are going to be difficult. That's just another way of saying the other guys are better. The Big Ten's 0-9 overall record against the ACC includes a 30-56 mark in individual games, and ...
Quick Hits
Dec 01, 2008; ... MONDAY MEANDERINGS AT LEAST LIONS CAN SAY 'WE'RE NO. 1' Thanksgiving leftovers sometimes are better than the original. Although in the case of the Detroit Lions, their fans still must have a bad taste in their mouths from the lopsided loss Thursday to the Tennessee Titans that ...
Heisman Watch
Dec 01, 2008 ... Herb Gould handicaps his top 3 in the Heisman Trophy race. 1. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma QB: He leads an offense that has put up 60 points in each of its last four games. 2. Tim Tebow, Florida ...
The polls
Dec 01, 2008 ... BCS Standings The BCS average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Harris Interactive and USA Today polls and six computer rankings. BCS avg. Pvs 1. Alabama 0.9713 1 2. Oklahoma 0.9351 3 3. Texas 0.9223 2 4. Florida 0.8851 4 5. USC ...
Head-to-head nosed out
Dec 01, 2008; ... Who says the regular season means something in college football? Despite losing to Texas 45-35 on Oct. 11, Oklahoma won the nod over the Longhorns for the right to play in the Big 12 championship game. With the Big 12 South locked in a three-way tie that also included Texas Tech, the ...
Bulls notes
Dec 01, 2008; ... With Luol Deng in the starting lineup for Sunday's 103-92 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, Larry Hughes moved back into a reserve role. The Bulls need Hughes to provide a spark off the bench and be a leader of the second unit, but it remains to be seen how he'll react to the role. ''I'm not ...
Cubs face dilemma on arbitration front
Dec 01, 2008; ... Will the Cubs crack the door ajar for Kerry Wood to return for another season? Not if they believe he'll actually push it open by accepting an arbitration offer. The Cubs have until 11 tonight to make that call. It's one of the more intriguing decisions teams face as the deadline ...
Offense finishes road trip off-course
Dec 01, 2008; ... Overall, the Blackhawks enjoyed another November. They were 6-3-3 during the month and are 14-6-5 during the last two Novembers. Even the dreaded circus trip wasn't so bad this time as the Hawks finished it with a 3-2-1 record -- their best since 1997. The problem is, the Hawks came back ...
Bulls rally in finale
Dec 01, 2008; ... It was only one game, and it's usually not wise to make too much of a single occurrence, but the Bulls believe their 103-92 comeback victory Sunday over the Philadelphia 76ers is a testament to their growth during the stretch of seven road games. ''We didn't get rattled when they went up ...
Let the dissection begin
Dec 01, 2008; ... Two days after the Irish were bludgeoned 38-3 by USC, it's time to unzip the body bag on Notre Dame's regular season and begin the autopsy. First-year athletic director Jack Swarbrick is scrubbing his hands in anticipation of overseeing the postmortem examination. Swarbrick is the wild ...
When Michelle Became More . . . 'aware of My Blackness'
Dec 01, 2008 ... NO TEXT Photo: Michelle Robinson's Princeton graduation photo., How ...
'I better get back to school'
Dec 01, 2008; ... Patricia Slagle spent 25 years as a hair stylist, but as the economy worsened she started nursing school at Moraine Valley Community College this fall because her family is "definitely feeling it.'' After 12 years as a flight attendant, Joel La Rocca is training to become a respiratory ...
Waiting overnight for Black Friday an act of insanity
Dec 01, 2008; ... Every time I write about the insane mind-set that leads thousands of seemingly normal humans to cut short their Thanksgiving holidays so they can stand in line in a parking lot to buy Christmas presents, I hear from some of those people who lined up for hours in the dark. They didn't ...
New life for ex-prostitute
Dec 01, 2008; ... Marian Hatcher was 38 and had a good accounting career when she first picked up hard drugs, snatching a cocaine-laced cigarette from a pal and inhaling. She was stressed out and angry because her boyfriend at the time had lost her money in his drug dealing. The drug, she said, made her ...
Investigative team here focuses on human traffickers
Dec 01, 2008; ... Two years ago, when federal authorities got a tip about a sex ring operating between here and Boston, Chicago cops set up a sting at the Congress Hotel. There, two women -- one had been advertised on an escort service Web site -- were arrested. But the investigation did not stop ...
Did kids with lighter set fire?
Dec 01, 2008; ... A day after a South Side house fire claimed the life of a 2-year-old boy, police and fire investigators Sunday were trying to determine whether the blaze was sparked by children playing with a lighter. Jaquin Roby died from carbon monoxide intoxication he suffered in the Saturday night ...
News in Brief
Dec 01, 2008 ... ALTGELD GARDENS PERSON SHOT BY POLICE Police shot a person on the Far South Side Sunday in the area of the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex. The shooting happened about 1:15 a.m. at East 131st Street and South Langley. An officer shot the person, who was taken to an area ...
A chilling encounter with gas company
Dec 01, 2008; ... Dear Fixer: I woke at 2 a.m. on a Saturday and noticed it was cold in my house. I have an exotic bird, so I turned the heat on -- long story short, the heat and hot water were off. I went outside and found a lock on my meter. I called Nicor and the rep told me very rudely that the person ...
Dream home detour: I-57 interchange ousts family
Dec 01, 2008; ... At the shiny new house guarded by two concrete lions on a cul-de-sac in Posen, Volare O'Connor saw a place to plant roots. He and his wife bought the home on California Avenue in the south suburb for $265,000 in 2006. They made plans to have a family, starting with their first child last ...
Chicagopedia
Dec 01, 2008 ... spray paint /SPRAY paynt/ n. Aerosol spray paint was invented locally by Edward Seymour of Sycamore, inspired by his new bride, Bonnie. She was spraying air freshener when she remarked how great it would be to have aerosol paint. In 1949, Seymour came up ...
Michelle at the crossroads
Dec 01, 2008; ... Michelle Obama may be the pride of the South Side, but her undergraduate years at Princeton also helped shape her worldview. A new biography, Michelle (Simon & Schuster), by Washington Post reporter Liza Mundy, delves into Obama's years at the elite university, in particular Obama's ...
Clinton-haters, get real
Dec 01, 2008; ... OPENING SHOT ... Extreme Clinton Hatred was the previous pathology to grip the Republican Party, before it was infected with Obamaphobia. Now that Hillary Clinton is being nominated as Barack Obama's secretary of state, we can expect the cry that our next president is somehow re-creating ...
News in Brief
Dec 01, 2008 ... CALIFORNIA ENDEAVOUR RETURNS Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday, taking a detour to Edwards Air Force Base in sunny California after storms hit the main landing strip in Florida. The shuttle wrapped up a 16-day trip that left the ...