Good guys — and awesome Chicago baseball teams — wear black

Chicago White Sox 1, Minnesota Twins 0 — how sweet it is!
It’s been a long, often frustrating season. At times the Sox have not played up to their potential this year, and that’s why they had to play this divisional tie-breaker.
But they hung in there and refused to die. And now they’re American League Central [...]

‘A House divided’ stresses markets by not passing bailout plan

Local legislators must have gotten an earful last week regarding the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry, suffering from the subprime mortgage crisis.
Lawmakers put the brakes on the White House’s rush for a bailout plan. Republicans, in particular, wanted to explore alternatives to the proposal that the federal government [...]

Congressional Republicans want to ensure bailout plan is sound

The latest from Capitol Hill: Cooler heads must prevail.
That was the message from U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-6th District, of Wheaton during a telephone conference today with Chicago-area reporters in which I participated. He briefed us on how things look for a possible deal regarding the proposed $700 billion bailout by the federal government of [...]

No one involved in proposed railroad merger is sitting back quietly

Whether Canadian National Railway succeeds in overcoming opposition from southwest and western suburbs and eventually purchases the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway could well depend on who has the better public relations machine.
The press releases have been flying fast and furious from all corners. I received two within the past couple of days regarding a [...]

September is as good a time as any to hold Oktoberfest

Every year about this time, I wonder, “Why do some towns and/or groups celebrate Oktoberfest in September?”
Of the listings for seven Oktoberfest celebrations that I found in our company archives, four of them (in Berwyn, Carol Stream, Itasca and Villa Park) have been held in September. The other three (in Downers Grove, La Grange Park [...]

Economic crisis pitting two American principles against each other

Last week’s near meltdown of a large chunk of the global economy is focing me to pick the lesser of the two evils.
The first evil is that more and more financial giants will collapse under the weight of their monumental debt if the federal government does nothing to try and stem the bleeding. This could [...]

College of DuPage makes wise choice in posting salaries online

Transparency about public salaries doesn’t appeal to everyone.
The Board of Trustees for the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn voted last night to post the salaries of all college employees online. The board previously worked with Adam Andrzewski of Elmhurst, who launched ForTheGoodofIllinois.org, on a plan to post online all itemized expenses the college incurs.
I [...]

Roskam forces debate to be nixed to ‘cast votes’ that won’t be called

It’s hard to pinpoint precisely where U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam sees partisan politics in a recent incident.
Since June, members of the Elmhurst League of Women Voters have tried to arrange a debate between the candidates for the 6th Congressional District. Roskam, the Republican from Wheaton, will face Democratic challenger Jill Morgenthaler of Des Plaines. Morgenthaler [...]

Gun control endorsement probably won’t change many minds

A candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives has received the support of a group well known for advocating more restrictive gun laws, but I wouldn’t count on this being the factor that pushes him over the top in the campaign.
Last week, Gary Nowak of Elmhurst was endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun [...]

Mass transit stories have dominated the headlines

Toward the end of the year, residents of the western suburbs will have an important decision to make.
They’ll have to decide which mass transportation story impacted them the most.
Will it be the proposed merger of Canadian National and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern railways; the unfunded mandates that Gov. Rod Blagojevich imposed on the Regional [...]