Mike Schmidt/Chronicle

No ‘butts’ about it

Chicagoans feeling disenfranchised as they stand outside their office buildings in the frigid winter weather puffing away on their nicotine sticks may have to brace themselves for some more time lighting up outside.

The Chicago City Council has started a battle between the smokers and the nons over banning smoking in city restaurants. Heated debates went on both inside, by the council, and outside, by citizens.
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Who’s in charge, anyway?

On Dec. 8, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services announced that it will stop sending children to live at the Maryville Academy City of Youth home in Des Plaines, the state’s largest facility. The decision came after the arrest of Maryville employee Michelle Alexander in connection with charges for not reporting the sexual assault she allegedly witnessed on Dec. 7. This decision also came after the February suicide of a 14-year-old girl and an alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl by at least two boys, ages 11 and 12, and possibly a third boy, also 11, on Nov. 15.
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Bush’s new choice: Model Ford

Adding another curvature to his crooked cabinet team, President Bush announced last week his pick for filling the Treasury Secretary post vacated by Paul O’Neill on Dec. 6. O’Neill, a former big-business CEO with liberal tendencies, held the position since Bush entered the White House. Pundits claimed O’Neill’s monetary ideologies did not fit snugly with the administration’s, which is eager to kick-start the lethargic economy and combat Enron-esque big business accounting. In all, the candid O’Neill—who was essentially forced to resign—lost the confidence of Wall Street, discounted a probable recession and had major issues with Bush’s infamous tax cut, all while traversing the globe with Bono. Such wavering ideological differences usually spells disaster in the hyper-loyal White House, where the President frequently spouts pet names for his closest advisers.
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Greedy unions share blame for UAL downfall

Well it’s official, United Airlines is bankrupt.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The second largest airline in the world (second to American Airlines) filed for bankruptcy last week amid a behemoth amount of debt and internal problems that have plagued the company since the early ’90s.
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