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**SNIP** March 22: Jeanne Bishop will discuss her new book, "Change of Heart: Justice, Mercy, and Making Peace With My Sister's Killer," with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. 4 p.m., Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave., semcoop.com, 773-752-4381

The debt-plagued city of Chicago took another financial blow late Thursday when Moody's Investors Service downgraded the city's debt rating, citing its overwhelming pension burden. Even if recent state pension changes survive a court challenge, the ratings statement said, "we expect Chicago's unfunded pension liabilities — and the costs of servicing those liabilities — to continue to grow, placing significant strain on the city's financial operations." The drop, to a rating of Baa2, could drive up borrowing costs for the city and cause problems with some of Chicago's current interest-rate swap contracts.

The US Department of Justice and embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel are under mounting pressure to investigate allegations of what one politician called “CIA or Gestapo tactics” at a secretive Chicago police facility exposed by the Guardian.Politicians and civil-rights groups across the US expressed shock upon hearing descriptions of off-the-books interrogation at Homan Square, the Chicago warehouse that multiple lawyers and one shackled-up protester likened to a US counter-terrorist black site in a Guardian investigation published this week. As three more people came forward detailing their stories of being “held hostage” and “strapped” inside Homan Square without access to an attorney...

There were plenty of winners and losers in this week's Chicago city elections, and you can always follow the losers by the echoes of their shrieks through the alleys. And there are famous names of Chicago Democratic politics among them, names like Berrios and Mell and Daley and Preckwinkle. We'll get to them. The biggest loser of all, of course, is Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He was forced into a runoff campaign with Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, and given the unrest in the wards and Emanuel's huge likability deficit, it's looking as if he could be a loser in...

At least three men were killed while two other men and a teen boy were wounded in attacks in the Roseland, West Garfield Park and East Garfield Park neighborhoods Wednesday, authorities said..

The Chicago Police Department operates an unofficial detention center on the West Side that some defendants' lawyers describe as the equivalent of a CIA black site, according to a report by the Guardian newspaper. Suspects are interrogated at the facility, a warehouse in the Homan Square complex, instead of being formally booked and detained at a police station, the London newspaper reported today in two stories totaling more than 3,600 words. The practices at the facility include beatings by police, shackling suspects for long periods of time and denying attorneys' access to their clients, the Guardian says. The report follows...

Four years ago, former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel breezed to victory in the Chicago mayor's race. He was the golden boy of Democratic politics, mentioned in some party circles as a possible presidential candidate in 2016. Yesterday, the incumbent mayor was humiliated by failing to receive a majority of the votes against 4 relative unknowns. The result forces an April 7 runoff where he is still expected to win handily, but is now considered damaged goods. His downfall? Persistent violence and a pension shortfall threatening to bankrupt the city. Bloomberg: “We have come a long way and...

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will take on Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia in a runoff election on April 7. With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Emanuel had 45 percent, shy of the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff. Garcia had 34 percent of the vote, separating him from the rest of Emanuel’s challengers and putting him in position for the runoff. Trailing Garcia is businessman Willie Wilson in third with 10 percent, Alderman Robert Fioretti in fourth with 7 percent and William “Dock” Walls was in last with 3 percent.

The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site. The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.

THE Eternal Love of The Father Virtue upon virtue , line upon line of My Word is truly a River of Life as you walk in My Love and not your own for as your Father in Heaven I AM with you always even onto forever but it is My desire you carry My Heart and not your own for your love can be injured But My Love for you ,in you and through you is an unstoppable Truth that sheds off the lies of the enemy and before which all condemnation Must Fall! For My Love is Sovereign and...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will easily take first place in Tuesday’s municipal election, but polls show he may miss the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a run-off in the race to lead the financially challenged, third-largest U.S. city. Emanuel, 55, a former adviser to President Barack Obama seeking a second term as mayor, has already spent millions of dollars in the non-partisan race against four challengers, and a second round will mean six more weeks of expensive campaigning. Emanuel is close to the mark, getting 48.3 percent of the vote in a recent Ogden & Fry poll. His nearest...

Daughter of former Obama pastor sent to jail after new allegations surface By Ray Long Chicago Tribune contact the reporter The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of President Barack Obama, was sent to jail Monday by a federal judge who revoked her bond in a money laundering case. lRelated Rev. Jeremiah Wright's daughter found guilty of money laundering Breaking News Rev. Jeremiah Wright's daughter found guilty of money laundering Jeri Wright, 49, of Hazel Crest, was convicted last March of 11 corruption counts, including money laundering and lying to a grand jury, in a case tied...

Yesterday’s news became big news on the Fox News Channel last week when former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought up the name of President Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis. It was almost seven years to the day when we published our seminal piece about Davis, “Obama’s Communist Mentor.” Davis was a member of the Communist Party and a suspected Soviet espionage agent. He was included in the FBI’s security index, meaning that Davis could be arrested or detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI file on Davis documents his anti-white and pro-Soviet views,...

Sunday at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago during his annual Saviours’ Day speech, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan attacked former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his controversial comments saying Obama doesn’t love America.

**SNIP** So Thursday, the FEC sent Jackson’s campaign committee its eighth consecutive failure-to-file notice. It must file its end-of-the year report for 2014 or face a penalty. (Perhaps that threat rings a bit hollow when you’re already in jail?) In August 2014, the FEC fined Jackson for nearly $18,000 for not filing reports in 2013, according to the Chicago Tribune. He must formally terminate his committee to get the FEC off his back, but his treasurer quit in September 2013, and so it seems there’s no person responsible for doing the necessary paperwork. Since his last report in November 2012,...

Chicago really doesn't need a presidential temple of worship masquerading as a presidential library, or a fancy downtown college basketball palace, or a Star Wars museum on the lakefront. And downtown doesn't need a big casino, either, not even a glitzy one with monstrous video billboards depicting the giant, pitiless eyes of the mayor staring down at those from the neighborhoods who dared to look up. Downtown has been getting quite a bit of attention, and though it might be nice to have all these things, (or not) — they aren't vital to the future of Chicago. But there is...

Obama dares Rand Paul to show up on the South Side of Chicago now - as he mocks GOP contender's claim that Republicans are 'the party of jobs and opportunity' As President Barack Obama hit out at Republicans who have criticized his economic policies, he singled out Republican Senator Rand Paul - who previously said income inequality has worsened under Obama's administration. During the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting today, Obama remarked on Paul's 2013 comment that the Republican party needs to show up on the South Side of Chicago and shout: 'We are the party of jobs and opportunity'....

More than 4,700 square miles of ice formed over the Great Lakes in just one night on Tuesday. The Arctic blast that swept the Midwest and Northeast saw a near-record amount of Lake Ontario was iced over, with just 20 per cent of open water left. Overall 82 percent of the five water bodies sealed up. Temperatures are expected to drop again on Thursday night, leading forecasters to predict that figure to climb significantly by Friday morning.

The Siberian Express that’s imported northern Russia’s weather into North America is leading to a second year of fast-growing ice cover on the Great Lakes, setting up the Chicago area for the possibility of another cool spring. By Wednesday, the Great Lakes were 85.4 percent ice-covered, just above the 85.2 percent on Feb. 18 last year, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. With below-average temperatures predicted for at least the next week, the lakes could approach last year’s levels of 92.5 percent ice cover, the second-highest level since records began in the early 1970s.

A wrongfully convicted man filed a $40 million lawsuit on Tuesday against Northwestern University, a former journalism professor, a private investigator and an attorney, accusing them of framing him for a double murder to get another man released. Alstory Simon, 64, of Ohio, claims in the lawsuit that he was the victim of unethical tactics by a team focused on freeing another man in what became a celebrated Illinois wrongful conviction case. Simon was imprisoned in 1999 after confessing to the 1982 murder of two people in a park, and spent more than 15 years behind bars before he was...