Chicago Sun-Times back issues from June 2009:
Big no to tax hike
Jun 01, 2009; ... Unable to muster a last-minute legislative Hail Mary, Gov. Quinn came up empty-handed Sunday in his bid to increase the state income tax by 50 percent to stave off $7 billion in budget cuts. Dealing Quinn the biggest legislative defeat of his 17-week governorship, the House voted 42-74 ...
Yesterday's top 5 most viewed stories at suntimes.com
Jun 01, 2009 ... 1. Will Conan's bits work on 'Tonight'? suntimes.com/entertainment 2. State Senate passes tax hike suntimes.com/news/politics 3. Jennifer Hudson ...
3 Things we love about the Shedd Aquarium
Jun 01, 2009 ... 1. The core of the Shedd's sea otter collection was a group rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. 2. It's here you'll meet Granddad, an Australian lungfish considered to be the oldest fish in any aquarium in the world. He is at least 80 years old and likes to make like a ...
No fees if you buy tickets on Wednesday*
Jun 01, 2009; ... In an effort to ease the burden on music fans in these difficult economic times -- and to sell some of the extra lawn seats that have been slow to move this summer concert season -- the Chicago office of giant national concert promoter Live Nation plans to forgo service fees for tickets ...
Crying 'for her daddy'
Jun 01, 2009; ... Demond Stansbury was a big bear hug of a man who used to cradle his daughter Samone, 1, until his heartbeat calmed her as she recovered from cardiac surgeries. On Saturday, the veteran UPS worker was slain by an unknown gunman who also wounded his two cousins, according to police and ...
150 Fight Blaze
Jun 01, 2009 ... Color Photo: Al Podgorski, Sun-Times / A Sunday afternoon fire at 712 S. Aberdeen left at least six households looking for new homes. About 150 ...
Childhood cancer survivors at risk
Jun 01, 2009; ... Adults who were treated with radiation for cancer as children are at high risk for developing a second cancer. But most don't get screened for colon, breast or skin cancer as often as recommended, new research shows. Because radiation can trigger health problems years after cancer ...
Students' health records found in Dumpsters
Jun 01, 2009; ... Three boxes of health evaluation records for special education students at Lake View High School were found in trash bins in a North Side alley Saturday night. The papers, found by a resident in Dumpsters in the 3700 block of North Janssen, date from 1997 to 2002. Chicago Public Schools' ...
Chicago pedia
Jun 01, 2009 ... 219 Dearborn/ TOO nyne TEEN deer BORN/ n. Where political careers go to die. The address refers to 219 S. Dearborn St. in Chicago, home of the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where federal prosecutors drag corrupt ...
New feature!
Jun 01, 2009 ... The Chicago Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Department's "food basket" report provides a look at how prices change over time. Look in the Sun-Times every week to see how prices have risen or fallen. Macaroni and cheese $1.08 May 28, ...
Couple toast new career: Chicago's only distillery
Jun 01, 2009; ... This isn't your granddaddy's white lightning. In a modest brick Ravenswood building, Robert and Sonat Birnecker operate a copper still, making vodka, liqueurs and other spirits as their 10-month-old son and "warehouse manager" Lion giggles from his playpen. The family opened ...
Chain reaction: no meter, no bike parking
Jun 01, 2009; ... Here's a new reason to bemoan the privatization of the city's parking meters: the loss of bike parking. When there are no bike racks available, bicyclists like to lock their bikes to parking meters because they tend to be more secure than street signs. That's because the bolts attaching ...
NU team out to shine in solar car race
Jun 01, 2009; ... "You aliens, leave Earth now!!!" That's not a line from the newest summer sci-fi flick. It's something a kid yelled when a group of Northwestern University students tested a solar-powered car in Sugar Grove this month. The youngster saw a three-wheeled car about two weeks ...
New credit card rules a double-edged sword
Jun 01, 2009; ... THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU $679,361 Dear Readers: Consumers breathed a sigh of relief May 22, when President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort to rein in some of the worst credit card abuses. Among the ...
$2.7 million wasted in grants
Jun 01, 2009; ... One of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's big blunders -- awarding a $1 million state grant to a private school that, as things turned out, never operated as a school once it got the money -- is in the process of being fixed. After months of negotiations, the owners of the Loop Lab School ...
Neighbor's unkind cut: 'He took them all down'
Jun 01, 2009; ... As chain saws buzzed in the background, Tonya Lloyd peered from her backyard toward what once resembled a small forest. On Friday, it was a sun-swept hill. The once-proud trees had been reduced to stumps. "There was a lot of trees. He took them all down," said Lloyd, ...
France's highest honor -- 65 yrs. later
Jun 01, 2009; ... It has been 65 years, but when Louis Venditti talks about parachuting into France before the invasion of Normandy, the memory of that night stays vivid in his mind. The 87-year-old will drop into France much more traditionally this week, visiting Paris to be presented the French Legion ...
Crooked pols like fish in a barrel
Jun 01, 2009; ... OPENING SHOT . . . A crooked politician is not exactly Lex Luthor. No criminal mastermind he. If the allegations are true, and Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) received $40,000 in home remodeling in return for greasing the skids for a developer, you can almost see the logic at work in what ...
News in Brief
Jun 01, 2009 ... SOUTH SIDE MAN SHOT BY GUARD IS CHARGED A security guard shot and wounded a person who pointed a gun at him outside a South Side grocery store Sunday morning, according to police. Alfred Benson, 45, of the 6100 block of South Dorchester Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault ...
Risky insurance plan has seniors spinning
Jun 01, 2009; ... Some life insurance policies are starting to haunt the living. When I warned about "premium financed" life insurance policies in a column three years ago, I called it "not exactly a scam, but dangerous." Today, that warning seems mild. More than $20 billion of these insurance policies ...
Venturing without waiting for funding
Jun 01, 2009; ... While there are many benefits to starting a company in today's rough economy, access to start-up capital is not one of them. Venture capital investments in Illinois were historically low in the first quarter of this year, as 12 companies raised a combined $14 million, according to a Thomson ...
Aflac duck has company
Jun 01, 2009; ... Aflac's newest TV spot, called "Farm," breaks today, and we're told it scored some of the highest test results with focus groups of any Aflac commercial ever. For historical purposes, that's nice to know, though we're no fan of testing as a barometer of a commercial's greatness or of its ...
Homophobic alderman? Possibility stirs rage
Jun 01, 2009; ... 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 ...
Lawmakers unload on reform panel . . .
Jun 01, 2009 ... When the members of the Illinois Reform Commission traveled to Springfield to pitch laws to clean up state government, lawmakers didn't exactly lay out the red carpet. In fact, lawmakers acted as if the commissioners had soiled the Capitol rug themselves. Most of the Legislature ...
. . . But FOIA rewrite done right
Jun 01, 2009 ... In recent weeks, we've beaten up our state lawmakers, especially House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, over matters of political reform. We'll keep it up as long as we think it necessary, but it's only fair to offer kudos as well when they get something ...
Emissions bill good for economy
Jun 01, 2009; ... This summer, our society faces one of the greatest challenges of its time: passing legislation that will reduce emissions that contribute to global warming while also stimulating our economy. In my lifetime, 15 of the past 20 years have been some of the hottest on record, with months at ...
Immigration law misfires
Jun 01, 2009; ... My best friend, Udayan Chattopadhyay, who is Indian, attended Wabash College with me in Indiana. Udayan graduated in 2007. His visa provisions allowed him an additional year in the United States, during which time he became employed and promoted by a New Jersey information-technology business ....
Parking garages need security
Jun 01, 2009; ... On the evening of May 16, my girlfriend and I noticed that her car had been broken into in a Near North parking garage. Within the past two years, my own car has been vandalized twice in this same parking structure, and yet I continue to park there, paying an exorbitant $290 per month parking ...
The gift of education
Jun 01, 2009; ... An education is a gift and a privilege. Being able to read, write and do arithmetic are skills that open doors to prosperity. As the current school year comes to a close, how have we chosen to participate in this opportunity to learn and enrich our own lives? It is easy to take our ...
Go ask Abby
Jun 01, 2009; ... One of America's most-read advice columnists, Los Angeles-based Dear Abby (a k a Abigail Van Buren, a k a Jeanne Phillips), appears in roughly 1,400 newspapers and gets reams of letters and e-mails each week with questions about everything from money to sex. Shortly before her debut in ...
MTV moons over 'Twilight'
Jun 01, 2009; ... Only at the MTV Movie Awards will you see Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker sing "D--- in a Box" and Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen's Austrian alter ego) fly in a "cheeky" angel costume and land with his schnitzel on Eminem's face. Andy Samberg was arguably the funniest host in the show's ...
He's too cool for his own good
Jun 01, 2009; ... Dear Cheryl: I'm independently wealthy. I retired young to pursue my own pleasures. I like to think of myself as warm, caring, affable and fairly good-looking. Most women I meet are more than marginally attracted to me. I have a good working knowledge of mechanical, medical and financial ...
Lookingglass grants a wish
Jun 01, 2009; ... 'THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' HIGHLY RECOMMENDED When: Through July 12 Where: Lookingglass Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Tickets: $30-$60 Phone: (312) 337-0665 "In our heads we contain all the images of the universe," says ...
Boss, assistant differ on who deserves thanks
Jun 01, 2009; ... Dear abby: I work as an administrative assistant for a company in Louisville. Each year we invite several "high-level" customers to attend the Kentucky Derby. We spare no expense on this event, paying for hotels, track tickets, food, drinks, limos, etc. for three full days. Last year my ...
Trio could send real chills down a tapped spine
Jun 01, 2009; ... High atop my list of the best rock movies ever made, director Rob Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984) succeeds partly because the spot-on satire reveals more truths about the absurdities of rock stardom and the music industry than any documentary on the subject. The other reason it ...
Paige Wiser's TV highlights
Jun 01, 2009; ... "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" (7 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): It's live, it's two hours long, and it may be your only chance to see Sanjaya Malakar sweaty. Will Patti Blagojevich continue to make Chicago proud? "Medium" (9 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Season finale. Allison (Patricia ...
Former Baxter International chairman
Jun 01, 2009; ... RALPH FALK II Ralph Falk II lived for years in Lake Forest and was a former chairman of Baxter International Inc., a company based in the north suburbs, but his heart was in the American West, especially where the powder runs deep. Mr. Falk was an accomplished skier and loved the ...
'Voice of NASA's Mission Control'
Jun 01, 2009 ... PAUL HANEY - 1928-2009 Paul Haney, who was known as the "voice of NASA's Mission Control" for his live televised reports during the early years of the space program, has died of cancer. He was 80. Mr. Haney died Thursday at a nursing home. Kent House, owner of the Alamogordo ...
Johnson outduels Stewart in thriller
Jun 01, 2009 ... Jimmie Johnson nosed past Tony Stewart with two laps left in a thrilling battle to the finish and won the Sprint Cup Series Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. Johnson pushed Stewart over the final few laps Sunday on the concrete and finally caught him with an outside ...
Unbeaten streak crashes to a halt
Jun 01, 2009; ... Exhausted, sapped and just plain dog-tired. The Fire tried as hard as it could to skirt the obvious adjectives Sunday, but there was no escaping the fact that their listless 3-0 loss to FC Dallas at Toyota Park came at the end of a very long week. The Fire (5-1-6) -- which lost ...
AL highlights
Jun 01, 2009 ... Kevin Youkilis homered twice, Dustin Pedroia hit a three-run shot and Jon Lester struck out a career-high 12 as the Red Sox beat the host Blue Jays 8-2. ... Edwin Jackson allowed two hits in eight innings, Curtis Granderson -- batting cleanup -- hit his 13th homer and the Tigers beat the host ...
Offseason surgery possible for Ramirez
Jun 01, 2009; ... Aramis Ramirez is aiming to rejoin the Cubs once play resumes after the All-Star break on July 16 -- if everything in his rehab work goes according to plan -- but offseason surgery remains a possibility for the All-Star third baseman who dislocated his left shoulder diving for a ball May ...
Day off timed right for rotation
Jun 01, 2009; ... The Cubs get their first day off today in two weeks, and it gives their rotation a much-needed breather -- especially considering ace Carlos Zambrano is serving a six-game suspension and Ryan Dempster is dealing with a blister on the middle finger of his right hand. Manager Lou Piniella ...
Sox to ace: Hit road, Zack
Jun 01, 2009; ... There was a point two weeks ago when manager Ozzie Guillen's ''I still believe in this team'' refrain seemed hollow. It was as if Guillen was saying it because, really, what else could he say? So when asked about that before the White Sox' 7-4 victory Sunday over the Kansas City ...
Ozzie sticks up for A's Cabrera
Jun 01, 2009; ... When Athletics shortstop Orlando Cabrera steps on the field tonight, he should be welcomed back to the South Side with open arms, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. Unfortunately for Guillen, he isn't in a position to lead by example. Guillen wouldn't come out Sunday and say his ...
Pods, Ramirez a good 1-2 hunch
Jun 01, 2009; ... Even before Scott Podsednik tripled off Royals ace Zack Greinke to start the game Sunday, manager Ozzie Guillen finally was feeling like he had settled on the right combination for the top of his lineup. The Sox have used seven leadoff hitters until Podsednik solidified that spot and ...
Good riddance to May
Jun 01, 2009; ... For however long that sitting-duck Gatorade dispenser resides in the home dugout at Wrigley Field with a jagged hole in its side, the Cubs will be reminded of the turbulent month of May. It finally came to an end Sunday in the form of a brutal 8-2 loss to the same Los Angeles Dodgers who ...
Cubs do the left thing
Jun 01, 2009; ... Just to refresh your memory, the Cubs are still responding to the thrashing they received at the hands of the Dodgers in the 2008 postseason. You do remember that three-game sweep that wiped out the Cubs in humiliating fashion? Briefly, the Cubs scored six runs, the Dodgers 20, ...
Students' health records found in Dumpsters
Jun 01, 2009; ... Three boxes of health evaluation records for special education students at Lake View High School were found in trash bins in a North Side alley Saturday night. The papers, found by a resident in Dumpsters in the 3700 block of North Janssen, date from 1997 to 2002. Chicago Public Schools' ...
Chicago pedia
Jun 01, 2009 ... 219 Dearborn/ TOO nyne TEEN deer BORN/ n. Where political careers go to die. The address refers to 219 S. Dearborn St. in Chicago, home of the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where federal prosecutors drag corrupt ...
Couple toast new career: Chicago's only distillery
Jun 01, 2009; ... This isn't your granddaddy's white lightning. In a modest brick Ravenswood building, Robert and Sonat Birnecker operate a copper still, making vodka, liqueurs and other spirits as their 10-month-old son and "warehouse manager" Lion giggles from his playpen. The family opened ...
New feature!
Jun 01, 2009 ... The Chicago Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Department's "food basket" report provides a look at how prices change over time. Look in the Sun-Times every week to see how prices have risen or fallen. Macaroni and cheese $1.08 May 28, ...
Chain reaction: no meter, no bike parking
Jun 01, 2009; ... Here's a new reason to bemoan the privatization of the city's parking meters: the loss of bike parking. When there are no bike racks available, bicyclists like to lock their bikes to parking meters because they tend to be more secure than street signs. That's because the bolts attaching ...
NU team out to shine in solar car race
Jun 01, 2009; ... "You aliens, leave Earth now!!!" That's not a line from the newest summer sci-fi flick. It's something a kid yelled when a group of Northwestern University students tested a solar-powered car in Sugar Grove this month. The youngster saw a three-wheeled car about two weeks ...
New credit card rules a double-edged sword
Jun 01, 2009; ... THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU $679,361 Dear Readers: Consumers breathed a sigh of relief May 22, when President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, an overwhelmingly bipartisan effort to rein in some of the worst credit card abuses. Among the ...
$2.7 million wasted in grants
Jun 01, 2009; ... One of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's big blunders -- awarding a $1 million state grant to a private school that, as things turned out, never operated as a school once it got the money -- is in the process of being fixed. After months of negotiations, the owners of the Loop Lab School ...
Neighbor's unkind cut: 'He took them all down'
Jun 01, 2009; ... As chain saws buzzed in the background, Tonya Lloyd peered from her backyard toward what once resembled a small forest. On Friday, it was a sun-swept hill. The once-proud trees had been reduced to stumps. "There was a lot of trees. He took them all down," said Lloyd, ...
Big no to tax hike
Jun 01, 2009; ... Unable to muster a last-minute legislative Hail Mary, Gov. Quinn came up empty-handed Sunday in his bid to increase the state income tax by 50 percent to stave off $7 billion in budget cuts. Dealing Quinn the biggest legislative defeat of his 17-week governorship, the House voted 42-74 ...
France's highest honor -- 65 yrs. later
Jun 01, 2009; ... It has been 65 years, but when Louis Venditti talks about parachuting into France before the invasion of Normandy, the memory of that night stays vivid in his mind. The 87-year-old will drop into France much more traditionally this week, visiting Paris to be presented the French Legion ...
Crooked pols like fish in a barrel
Jun 01, 2009; ... OPENING SHOT . . . A crooked politician is not exactly Lex Luthor. No criminal mastermind he. If the allegations are true, and Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) received $40,000 in home remodeling in return for greasing the skids for a developer, you can almost see the logic at work in what ...
News in Brief
Jun 01, 2009 ... SOUTH SIDE MAN SHOT BY GUARD IS CHARGED A security guard shot and wounded a person who pointed a gun at him outside a South Side grocery store Sunday morning, according to police. Alfred Benson, 45, of the 6100 block of South Dorchester Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault ...
Risky insurance plan has seniors spinning
Jun 01, 2009; ... Some life insurance policies are starting to haunt the living. When I warned about "premium financed" life insurance policies in a column three years ago, I called it "not exactly a scam, but dangerous." Today, that warning seems mild. More than $20 billion of these insurance policies ...
Venturing without waiting for funding
Jun 01, 2009; ... While there are many benefits to starting a company in today's rough economy, access to start-up capital is not one of them. Venture capital investments in Illinois were historically low in the first quarter of this year, as 12 companies raised a combined $14 million, according to a Thomson ...
Aflac duck has company
Jun 01, 2009; ... Aflac's newest TV spot, called "Farm," breaks today, and we're told it scored some of the highest test results with focus groups of any Aflac commercial ever. For historical purposes, that's nice to know, though we're no fan of testing as a barometer of a commercial's greatness or of its ...
. . . But FOIA rewrite done right
Jun 01, 2009 ... In recent weeks, we've beaten up our state lawmakers, especially House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, over matters of political reform. We'll keep it up as long as we think it necessary, but it's only fair to offer kudos as well when they get something ...