WBEZ - Metro Desk

Originally exempt From state cuts, Wisconsin police and firefighters now face changes, too

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:18:00 -0600

This is the second in a two-part series about what’s changed for public workers in Wisconsin, one year after labor protests gripped the state (...

Chicago marathon

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0600

Wisconsin politics

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0600

Speed cameras come to Chicago school zones, but do they work?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:55:00 -0600

Chicago lead foots beware: Yesterday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed off on a plan that would allow the use of speed cameras in school zones and parks. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel says the move will protect children; critics argue the cameras are an excuse to bring in some much-needed revenue for the city.

WBEZ reporter Alex Keefe explained the details, and Kristen McQueary, who covers state politics for WBEZ and the Chicago News Cooperative, told Eight Forty-Eight what the...

Swelling 'subsided' after stroke, doctors reattach portion of Sen. Kirk's skull

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:19:00 -0600

Doctors on Tuesday re-attached the portion of U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk's skull that was removed after he suffered a stroke more than two weeks ago.

The roughly 4-inch-by-8-inch portion of Kirk's skull was removed the day after he began experiencing symptoms, in order to make room for swelling caused by the stroke. In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Northwestern Memorial Hospital neurosurgeon Richard Fessler said that swelling "had subsided."

Fessler previously told reporters that the...

Chicago's cash-strapped police torture commission is falling apart

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:04:00 -0600

A commission created by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn nearly two years ago with the ambitious goal of righting the wrongs of Chicago's police torture scandal is quietly falling apart, another apparent victim of the state's budget mess.

The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission hasn't even met since August or reviewed a single case. It is operating with a quarter of the money commissioners sought, which has delayed the hiring of a staff attorney.

Jeanette Plummer's son Johnny,...

Quinn wants to cut $2 billion from Medicaid budget

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:50:00 -0600

Gov. Pat Quinn says Illinois must cut its Medicaid budget by $2 billion to help solve the state's fiscal woes.

The Democrat offered no details Tuesday on how the goal would be accomplished.

Some options are shrinking payments to doctors, cutting benefits and reducing how many people are eligible for the health care program covering 2.7 million poor and disabled Illinoisans.

Illinois' Medicaid budget is about $14 billion. The state contribution is around $8.6 billion.

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Court: California gay marriage ban is unconstitutional

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:28:00 -0600

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 — a response to an earlier state court decision that legalized...

Locally made police cars debut at Chicago Auto Show

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:24:00 -0600

The Chicago Auto Show opens this week and among the vehicles to debut are new police cars made locally. Ford is showing off two models of police "Interceptors" manufactured at Chicago's Southeast Side plant. One model is a sedan, the other a SUV.

Mike Moran is a communications manager at Ford.

"This is moving into the next generation of police pursuit vehicles for us. For 15 years the Ford Crown Victoria was the leader in the sales of police units," Moran said.

Moran said...

Cook County Sheriff leads national sex crime sting

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:09:00 -0600

The days surrounding the Super Bowl weren't so super for more than 500 people arrested around the country on prostitution and other sex crime charges.

In a news release, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's Office announced Tuesday that it had coordinated the operation that involved law enforcement agencies in Illinois and seven other states.

During the "National Day of Johns Arrests" the agencies conducted stings in hotels, on the streets, in brothels and online over a 10-day period...