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Jonathan Sanchez, a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, threw the first no-hitter of the 2009 MLB season on the night of Friday July 10th.

MLB.com AP via Chicago Tribune Most Recent No-Hitters by Team (AP via Tribune)

GM can't find someone new to make cars....

Was a gay couple targeted by Mormons for a kiss on the cheek?

Burr Oak Scandal
New York Times Chicago Tribune

Bush Wiretapping Program
Wall Street Journal LA Times

Google Moon Mapping?
Microsoft Silverlight 3

Around the News - Lowe Style

Quinn tables tax hike...for now....

Fox Chicago guts 10pm newscast.

“It is pretty bad when I go and fight a tyrannical government somewhere else,” Congine said, “and then I come home to find it right here at my front door.”

Kadner on Madigan.

THE BURR OAK SCANDAL

Kadner

Southtown Star

Till's Relative

First Lawsuit

Burr Oak to be closed as crime scene

Expert says identification will be an overwhelming task

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Roland Burris is expected to announce on July 10th that he will not seek election to a full term in the U.S. Senate. A run down of some of the Burris Senate Saga at the Trib's Clout Street.

Republicans in Illinois are jumping on State Senator Kirk Dillard, who is running for governor, because he said, "I look forward to having Lisa Madigan as attorney general when I’m the governor." DuPage county State's Attorney and GOP-man Joe Birkett announced he was running for AG. More from Clout St.

Quinn flip flops AGAIN!

Filing a complaint with the police? Make sure you come during business hours!

Homero Tristan & Co. insist he did everything correct!
This story just keeps getting better and better and better

Drug cartels in Maine?!?

The Ensign Affair gets weirder and weirder...

Sick Cemetary Scandal; Feds getting hacked; more

A disgusting scandal at a historical Chicagoland cemetary.

North Korea might be behind the hacking case of the federal websites.

Blagojevich's last chief of staff, John Harris, pleads guilty.

Band takes United Airlines baggage handling to task on YouTube.

1 in 4 Illinois adults is obese.

Illinois Politics

Lisa Madigan has announced today that she will not seek election as United States Senator or Governor. Instead, she will seek re-election to her current post as Illinois Attorney General. It had been reported by several news organizations that the Democrats and the Obama administration were courting her to run for either the Illinois U.S. Senate seat currently held by Roland Burris or for Governor. By seeking to stay in the same office, she will likely face Joe Birkett, the DuPage county State's Attorney. She narrowly defeated Birkett to become AG in 2002 and faced only token opposition in 2006 when she was re-elected AG. As of this time, Birkett is the only announced Republican in the AG race.

This creates a political vacuum in the Democratic primaries for Governor and the U.S. Senate seat. State treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has already announced he is running for the Senate seat. Incumbent Governor Pat Quinn is expected to seek re-election, but has not officially announced anything. Dan Hynes, current state comptroller, is expected to be a major player for either seat. Although he has not announced anything, he was expected to try a run for AG if Madigan moved up, but now he can seriously consider the Senate seat or the Governorship. In recent weeks, Hynes has been critical of how Quinn has handled the budget brouhaha. It has also been speculated that Congressman Danny Davis would make a play for the Senate seat, but it appears more and more that he is lining himself up to run for Cook County Board President. (Btw, that crowded field already includes Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and Cook Cty. Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown.)

In other news, Republican Congressman Mark Kirk is supposedly telling folks in Washington that he will attempt the jump from House to Senate. Illinois GOP chariman Andy McKenna has also allegedly begun to talk with Republican honchos about running for the Senate seat.

Gearing up for a fight in Illinois!

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Bomb parts smuggled into 10 federal buildings during test
What a great job as usual. I always feel secure in America!

Feds Hacked!

Daley's HR chief quits!

Inspector General David Hoffman called on the guy, Homero Tristan, to be fired for lying to investigators from the IG's office. Tristan said the allegations by IG were "grossly erroneous and irresponsible." Since 2005 a federal court appointed hiring monitor has also been keeping tabs on city hiring.

Both the court hiring monitor and Daley's Office of Compliance have repeatedly criticized Tristan for his alleged failure to comply with the city's own hiring plan. In a report last month, the compliance office said the department's leadership often "lacks a basic understanding of the new hiring plan."

Tristan claims to have done nothing wrong, but he is quitting to avoid being a "distraction (Daley spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard)". This is the same Tristan that close ties to Daley's Latino allies.

Hoffman had investigated Tristan's alleged failure to report to the court and others a Jan. 29 letter written by Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd) on behalf of a city worker who wanted to avoid a transfer to another job site. Tristan this year told the hiring monitor he was aware of Zalewski's letter but was unsure if he had to report it, according to court records. Hoffman said Tristan told his investigators he was not aware of the letter until weeks later.

Oh, Illinois politics!

Zell and the Cubs Sale

So, the Tribune Company wants to sell the Chicago Cubs. Months of tough negotiations and tiresome bargaining has led to this. And this. It could be TribCo trying to play hardball and run up a bidding war for the team. But, in my opinion that is the wrong move to make. The Ricketts family has spent months hammering out financing and the rates for the Cubs broadcast deals. The Ricketts family lined up three banks to pony up the loan portion of the deal. Due to the tight global economy, banks are refusing loan requests every single day and this includes from billionaires such as the Ricketts family. What would I do if I were the Ricketts family? Walk away from the deal. Of course this would be one big bluff, but I would call up the TribCo negotiators and tell them that we (the Ricketts family) are walking away. I would do this because it would force the hand of Zell and MLB. MLB would then pressure Zell and TribCo and the Ricketts would get the franchise anyway. Since the Utay group really is in this now as a sort of dog and pony show contestant, a bluff walk-away by the Ricketts family would create tremendous pressure on TribCo. So, now the deal can get done…or the Cubs can stay on the block and agonize and be in gridlock many more months. Let's wait (hopefully not long) and see.

Lowe