The Inquisitr » Chicago

Chicago anchor Judy Hsu becomes story by giving birth on roadside

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:20:47 +0000

ABC 7 in Chicago news anchor Judy Hsu’s tenure came in handy when she ended up having her baby in the car on the side of the road.

Hsu went into labor around 3am Tuesday, waking husband Tracy to take her to nearby Northwestern Hospital. But the baby wasn’t feeling very patient, and the couple pulled over on the side of the road at the Cicero exit of the Eisenhower Expressway. Judy Hsu remembered doing a segment on a similar childbirth situation and how the parents had tied off the umbilical cord with shoelaces. Husband Tracy tried it, and it worked.

Paramedics soon arrived and transported Judy Hsu and the baby to Northwestern Hospital, where both are reportedly doing fine. The baby boy, named Alexander James, has been nicknamed “Ike” due to his unusual birthplace. He is the couple’s 4th child.

[Source: Chicago Sun Times]

Scary: Woman disappears from Chicago airport

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:09:32 +0000

Wansah Hadgi, 32, flew into Chicago O’Hare airport from a trip to Syria on September 11th of this year.

She cleared customs, definitely arriving on American soil. Her luggage arrived back in her hometown of Lincoln on a connecting flight, but Hagdi never did. (Isn’t that like, never supposed to happen?) The woman, who is described by relatives as “shy” and “devoted to her family” seems to have simply vanished into thin air. Relatives say Hagdi became lost in the airport on her way to Syria, and feel she may have gotten lost again- but it’s not clear how anyone can be “lost” in an airport for nearly a month. However, on the first part of her journey, she reportedly waited by a pay phone in O’Hare airport for three days so her brother could help her get on a flight.

Hadgi’s family last heard from the woman when she was leaving Damascus. She contacted her sister Dilma and promised to call from Nebraska when she needed an airport pickup. Instead, relatives received a call from American Airlines reporting that Hadgi hadn’t claimed her luggage. After her disappearance, a Chicago detective contacted Homeland Security to see if the woman had been arrested and detained. He told the Chicago Tribune that no one knows “who she talked to on that Jordanian airline.” But’s he’s confident that Hadgi is safe, citing the statistic that 97% of missing adults are found, and adding that he can “almost guarantee that there’s no foul play in this case.”

Could the US Border policy impact future world events?

Steven Hodson — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:14:32 +0000

There was a lot of hope for the Olympics to come to Chicago. The President and Mrs. Obama did everything they could to help promote their home town win the bid to win the bid for the next Summer Olympics. However it was all for naught as the winning bid went to Rio de Janeiro and while some might point to the recent increase in violent crime in the city that doesn’t seem likely considering Rio de Janeiro’s crime problems,

That does seem to have been the big drawback to Chicago winning the bid is the United State’s border policies. As it is international travel to the US has dropped by 10 percent with much of the finger pointing as to why centering on the country’s current border policies,

“It’s clear the United States still has a lot of work to do to restore its place as a premier travel destination,” Roger Dow, U.S. Travel’s president, said in the statement released today. “When IOC members are commenting to our President that foreign visitors find traveling to the United States a ‘pretty harrowing experience,’ we need to take seriously the challenge of reforming our entry process to ensure there is a welcome mat to our friends around the world, even as we ensure a secure system.”

Source: In Transit – Chicago’s Loss: Is Passport Control to Blame?

One has to wonder if this is a problem that will only escalate as time goes by and more restrictions end up being put in place.

Chicago and Tokyo knocked out of 2016 Olympic voting

Paul Montgomery — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:51:11 +0000

Despite appeals by the Obamas and Oprah, Chicago has been fallen out of the running for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at the first hurdle, gaining the least amount of votes in the first round of voting by the International Olympic Committee, quickly followed by Tokyo in round two.

This leaves Rio de Janeiro and Madrid as the two remaining candidates. The votes have already been cast in the third and final round of voting between the two cities, with the announcement due within an hour.

Chicago had been installed as favourite by betting agencies, but failed to survive the first round in an embarrassing result for President Obama, who became the first sitting US president to lobby directly for an Olympic bid.

Madrid’s bid may be hurt by the relative recency of the Barcelona games of 1992, while the fact that the continent of South America has never hosted an Olympics of either season may get Rio over the line.

Maybe it won’t be all bad for American interests. Perhaps the 2016 Rio Olympics will be sponsored by Amazon.

Burr Oak Cemetery Workers Plead Not Guilty To Reselling Old Plots

AHN — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:45:45 +0000

The four former workers at Burr Oak cemetery have pleaded not guilty to charges of unearthing bodies, reselling plots and dismembering human bodies in a scheme that allegedly lasted for years.

Former grave digger Maurice Dailey, 59, Keith Nicks, 45, Terrence Nicks, 39, and former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, all declared their innocence in a Tuesday hearing. The next hearing will be on Sept. 25.

The four were charged on July 9 for dismembering a human body, a class x felony. Last month, they were indicted on seven other counts: desecration of human remains, conspiracy to dismember multiple human bodies, removal of a gravestone or marker, removal of remains of multiple deceased human beings from a burial ground, and two counts of theft $100,000 to $500,000.

Authorities say the suspects excavated bodies, choosing old graves that had not been visited, and dumped these along with remains of crushed burial vaults in an area of the graveyard used for collecting garbage. They also “double stacked” graves, by digging up an existing plot to make this deeper and covering the original vault in the grave with dirt.

The scheme lasted from Sept. 2003 to July 2009, and was done off the books to keep the cemetery owners from finding out.

Tucson-based funeral home and cemetery developer Perpetua Inc. is said to have contacted the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in May to investigate a report from an employee, leading to the arrest of the workers.

The arrests prompted a deluge of visits at Burr Oak by family members concerned about their loved ones. Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart’s office had also received tens of thousands of inquiries that could not immediately be answered because cemetery records were in disarray, with many partially destroyed and altered or missing altogether.

Dart’s office has completed an online database of headstones for family members to search, and the Chicago Burr Oak Cemetery Historical Society was created to develop a memorial to honor the deceased who fell victim to the scheme.

One of Chicago’s first black cemeteries, Burr Oak is now under a court-appointed receiver. The cemetery is home to about 100,000 graves, including Queen of Blues Dinah Washington and Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Chicago boy whose murder while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.

Blagojevich Maintains Innocence In Memoir To Be Released Next Week

AHN — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:25:09 +0000

Excerpts from former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s memoir, “The Governor,” ahead of the book’s official release next week are causing a stir in and outside Chicago. Among the allegations of the indicted Democrat is that the White House chief of staff, former Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had asked him if he could appoint a placeholder to the vacant House seat so Emanuel could return to Congress in 2010.

Blagojevich also says in the 336-page book published by Phoenix Books that he was considering appointing state Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the Senate seat of President Barack Obama when he was arrested. The appointment, he wrote, would have been made in return for support from the attorney general’s father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, for legislation including one one on healthcare.

The memoir will be release on Sept. 8. Blagojevich says his book will reveal “political conspiracies” and forces that caused his downfall, such as “the ambition of an attorney general and the greed of her Democratic State Party Chairman father -as well as the zeal of a federal prosecutor and the manipulations of a disloyal lieutenant governor.”

The White House has kept mum about Blagojevich’s claims about Emanuel. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a Monday briefing, “I barely cover with Rahm what’s going to happen the rest of the week. I have not talked to him about that nor have I — I’ve not seen the book by the indicted former governor of Illinois.”

Asked whether anything about the alleged plan of Emanuel, who made no secret of his hopes to become the first Jewish speaker of the House, during the transition, Gibbs replied that he had no recollection of any discussions about it.

Blagojevich, who last month launched a Website to “clear his name,” is scheduled to make the rounds of television appearances next week to promote his book. On the day of the book launch, he appears on the Today Show,the Early Show and Larry King Live.

The 52-year-old was impeached on Jan. 29 after a unanimous vote from all 59 members of the Illinois Senate.

He was indicted on April 2 on 16 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy and extortion conspiracy, along with his brother, Rob, former chief of staff Jonn Harris, associate Alonzo Monk, and fundraisers William Cellini and Christopher Kelly.

Harris pleaded guilty early July, telling prosecutors he and his boss began efforts to “obtain financial benefits for Blagojevich and his wife, in return for the exercise of his duty to appoint a United States Senator” in October 2008 until Dec. 9, when the former governor was arrested by the FBI.

Blagojevich, who appointed Roland Burris to the Senate seat, has pleaded not guilty and begins his trial June 3, 2010.

The former governor allegedly conspired with the other defendants and convicted lobbyist Tony Rezko beginning in 2002 and until after he was first elected as governor to “use the offices of governor and chief of staff for financial gain.”

Authorities say he attempted to raise $100,000 in campaign contributions from a “Racetrack Executive” in return for his signing into law of a bill directing a portion of casino revenues the horse racing industry.

He was said to be looking to receive the campaign contributions before the end of the year because a new ethics law prohibiting political contributions from state contractors was scheduled to take effect on the first day of 2009.

He had also allegedly received “substantial campaign fundraising assistance” from individuals seeking the appointment to fill the Senate seat of Obama. The individuals included “Senate Candidate A,” whose associate offered $1.5 million in campaign money in exchange for an appointment.

Never mind gravity from 1,353 feet up

Steven Hodson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:16:00 +0000

Wow I’m almost losing my lunch just looking at some of these pictures from Sears Tower in Chicago and its newly opened Skydeck Chicago. The Skydeck is glass balconies that are suspended 1,353 feet in the air and jut out 4 feet from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower.

via Yahoo! News

Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Diddy & More Asked to Skip Obama Rally

Meieli Sawyer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:31:51 +0000

Word has it that the Obama campaign has asked select high-profile supporters to avoid Obama’s rally held tonight in Chicago’s Grant Park.

According to The Sun-Times, Jay-Z, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Susan Sarandon, Ben Affleck, Tim Robbins, and Mary J. Blige were among the stars asked to avoid tonight’s event and instead come to Obama’s January inauguration, if it happens.

An insider supposedly revealed that “There really only needs to be one star in Grant Park, and that’s Barack. There will be plenty of time for a new President Obama to be surrounded by famous fans, all hopeful about a new administration.”

Oprah does get to come to the rally, and will probably get to spend time with the Obama family and their “inner circle” at the Hyatt Regency. No fair, right? Well, as the Sun-Times said, “No one says no to Oprah!” So true.

Huffington Post Launches Local Site in Chicago

Dominic Rivera — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:28:32 +0000

Huffington Post has gone local with the launch of HuffPost Chicago.

The localization of the site, which was announced by founder Arianna Huffington in June this year during the Future of Journalism event staged by the Guardian newspaper, is a move that shows the company’s direction towards covering all news, not only politics.

“We are aspiring to be a newspaper in that we want to [be] covering all news, not just the political blogging the way we began,” Huffington said in June.

Why Chicago?

“We’ve decided to start with Chicago because it’s always been a great news town – offering a vibrant mix of politics, sports, business, music, food, and urban life. Transferring The Huffington Post’s blend of news, opinion, and community – delivered with our familiar look and attitude – to a local level, HuffPost Chicago is part local news source, part resource guide, and part virtual soap box – featuring a collection of bloggers who know and love Chicago, and are looking to share their takes on everything from the Cubs to City Hall to the hot new local band to the best place for Greek food (and I can testify that there is a lot of that in Chicago!),” Huffington said in a blog post.

So, are we going to see some competition now for local Chicago sites like Chicagoist.com?