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The Chicago Police Department is seriously considering scrapping the police entrance exam to bolster minority hiring, save millions on test preparation and avert costly legal battles that have dogged the exam process for decades, City Hall sources said Tuesday. If the process is opened to everyone who applies and meets the minimum education and residency requirements, Chicago would be virtually alone among major cities. Most cities have police entrance exams -- and for good reason, experts say.

The Chicago Police Department is seriously considering scrapping the police entrance exam, sources tell Fran Spielman. Dropping the exam would bolster minority hiring and avert legal battles, according to one source, while others confirm that the exam could be scrapped to open the process to as many people as possible. However, the lack of an exam would make Chicago the lone major city without one, and experts contend that the exam is integral to eliminating unqualified applicants. The CPD has tried in recent years to boost minority hiring by offering the police exam online and turning to minority clergy to...

From the Chicago Sun-Times (thanks to the readers who sent this in): Police may scrap entrance exam 'OPEN UP THE PROCESS' | Union chief: It's 'too stupid to be true' BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND FRANK MAIN, Staff Reporters The Chicago Police Department is seriously considering scrapping the police entrance exam to bolster minority hiring, save millions on test preparation and avert costly legal battles that have dogged the exam process for decades, City Hall sources said Tuesday. If the process is opened to everyone who applies and meets the minimum education and residency requirements, Chicago would be virtually alone among...

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- There's word this morning that President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, already is looking at life beyond the White House and that he might be eyeing the 5th floor at Chicago's City Hall. It was no secret that then-Chicago Congressman Rahm Emanuel was less than thrilled when the newly-elected president asked him to give up his seat in the House to become the White House chief of staff a year ago. Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn tells Newsradio 780 she's heard from people close to Emanuel that he's told them he's almost ready to leave....

NEW YORK -- Andre Dawson is this year's sole electee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, it was announced on Wednesday. Dawson, an outfielder, made it on his ninth try. Robby Alomar, Barry Larkin and Bert Blyleven didn't make the cut. The right-handed pitcher Blyleven was shut out on his 13th. Alomar, a second baseman, was among 13 players on the ballot for the first time. Larkin, a shortstop, was also a first-timer. Dawson will be inducted on July 25 in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey, who were elected in December by a...

The Chicago Police Department is seriously considering scrapping the police entrance exam to bolster minority hiring, save millions on test preparation and avert costly legal battles that have dogged the exam process for decades, City Hall sources said Tuesday.

The news is about to get more expensive for readers of the Chicago Tribune in print, as the newsstand price goes to $1 later this month. The 25-cent increase, set to take effect on Jan. 18, will make the newspaper “priced according to its marketplace value,” according to a statement issued by Tony Hunter, publisher, president and CEO of the Chicago Tribune. The increase does not affect home delivery subscriptions or the Sunday edition. The price hike makes the Tribune one of the more expensive metro dailies in the country. The Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times —...

A cargo plane, possibly a Learjet, has landed in a forest preserve south of the Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, airport spokeswoman Laura Witlox said. Witlox said it was a Royal Air cargo jet. The Prospect Heights Fire Department was searching the area around the airport following reports of a plane possibly being down, a Prospects Heights firefighter said....

It's an interesting question being asked this morning thanks to Sally Quinn's column in today's Washington Post. The column begins reflecting on the revelation of a third uninvited guest who sneaked into November's state dinner and the ensuing mess this has cause the Secret Service and the White House. Quinn then turns the column to a discussion of the current White House power structure which leads to the inevitable Chicago connections, including White House social secretary Desirée Rogers and Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel. It's a this point that Quinn drops this paragraph on us: Emanuel, the most political animal in this...

“Chicago immigration agency a front for terror plot, federal probers allege U.S. probe targets operations of First World Immigration” By Antonio Olivo Tribune reporter January 3, 2010 SNIPPET: “Federal prosecutors charge that the Immigration center served as a front in a Chicago-based terror plot to bomb a Danish newspaper that in 2005 outraged Muslims worldwide when it published unflattering caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. First World’s owner, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, also knew in advance of plans for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed 172 people, federal prosecutors allege. Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in...

Myron Thomas was sitting in a car in the South Side’s Chatham neighborhood Sunday night when a gunman opened fire on him two separate times, leaving him dead with 13 gunshot wounds, sources said. Thomas, 25, of the 6500 block of South Harvard Avenue, was shot multiple times East 82nd Street and South Evans Avenue and was pronounced dead at 8:36 p.m. Sunday at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Thomas was sitting in the driver’s seat of a 2001 Oldsmobile when an unidentified gunman approached at 7:41 p.m. and...

Long time Democratic Chicago Pol Monique Davis hasn't paid the rent for her offices since 2002. Apparently it doesn't matter either. After all, she's a Chicago Democrat and the rules real people have to live by don't apply to a Chicago Democrat. And like a true Democrat Davis is blaming everyone else. It isn't her fault, you see. Remember the scene close to the end of the Blues Brothers where Jake Blues (John Belushi) was on his knees in the sewer pleading with Carrie Fisher not to kill him? Jake Blues told his jilted and angry lover, "I ran out...

Jarrett: Accusations of 'seedy Chicago politics' at WH unwarranted By Jordan Fabian - 12/26/09 03:30 PM ET One of President Barack Obama's closest advisers Saturday said claims that the White House is engaging in "seedy Chicago politics" are "completely unwarranted." Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett pushed back against the Republican refrain in a year-end interview with Politics Daily. Jarrett focused specifically on Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) use of the phrase in a recent CNN interview. "It was definitely a cheap shot and completely unwarranted," said Jarrett, who is one of several Chicagoans to join the Obama administration. "I think what people...

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's brother, William, is warning the Democratic Party that it is going too far left and will end up "in the wilderness" in 2010. William Daley has been a longtime political operative that has been connected with the Clintons for many years but that doesn't make him an extremist lefty, apparently… at least in his opinion. Daley wrote an op ed for the Washington Post today where he warns that the Democratic Party is in danger of going over the leftwing cliff... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

William Daley, brother of Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley has placed the equivalent of the head of a dead horse on President Obama's bed. In today's WaPo, Daley pens an op-ed where in part he writes: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come...Witness the drumbeat of ominous poll results. Obama's approval rating has fallen below 49 percent overall and is even lower -- 41 percent -- among independents. On the question of which party is best suited to manage the economy, there has been...

On the day before Christmas, President Obama found two presents under his tree. One was the health care reform bill passed that morning by the Senate, a historic measure so freighted with promise and problems that it could blow up. The other was an op-ed article in the Washington Post by William Daley, his fellow Chicagoan and one of the canniest Democrats I know, warning Obama that he is on the verge of losing his grip on the vital center of politics. Former Commerce Secretary Daley, who shares with his brother, Mayor Richard M. Daley, and their late father an...

CHICAGO (CBS) ―The City of Chicago will be shutting down early for the Christmas holiday, as part of Mayor Daley's plan to save the cash-strapped city money. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most other city offices will be closed on Christmas Eve as those city workers are being forced to take the day off without pay. Police and Fire Department operations are not affected and will remain fully staffed. Any other worker needed to provide for the public's safety will also be on the job. As part of the 2009 budget, three reduced-service days were planned for 2009:...

Maybe it's time to revisit an incident that illustrates what is meant by direct citizen action. The issue: The 1988 Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act The target: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, D-IL The Chicago Tribune from August 19, 1989 tells the story: "Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, one of the most powerful politicians in the United States, was booed and chased down a Chicago street Thursday morning by a group of senior citizens after he refused to talk with them about federal health insurance. Shouting 'Coward,' 'Recall' and 'Impeach,' about 50 people followed the chairman of the U.S. House...

The head of the UN's climate change panel - Dr Rajendra Pachauri - is accused of making a fortune from his links with 'carbon trading' companies, Christopher Booker and Richard North write. No one in the world exercised more influence on the events leading up to the Copenhagen conference on global warming than Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and mastermind of its latest report in 2007. Although Dr Pachauri is often presented as a scientist (he was even once described by the BBC as “the world’s top climate scientist”), as a former...

The Chicago public schools’ [CPS] response to a recent court desegregation ruling — a plan to use students’ social and economic profiles instead of race to achieve classroom diversity — is raising fears that it will undermine the district’s slow and incremental progress on racial diversity. Chicago schools, like the city itself, are hardly a model of racial integration. But a Chicago News Cooperative analysis of school data shows the district has made modest gains in the magnet, gifted, classical and selective-enrollment schools, where, for nearly 30 years, race has been used as an admission criterion. Those advances may be...

nd anti-nausea medicines, steroids and chemotherapy pills, choked down some rank iodine and drove to the hospital for CT scans checking the progression of his terminal lung cancer. It's been that way every morning for the 47-year-old Northbrook resident since his diagnosis in the spring of 2007. "The only kind of care they can give me now is palliative care. It's not curable," said Zisook, a lifelong smoker. "If they can't cure it, they have to make you comfortable and keep it from taking over your body for as long as possible." Jessica Neal typically begins her day darting off...

President Obama's scramble to close Guantanamo is picking up speed as his arbitrary one-year deadline approaches, with Yemen and Illinois as the latest detainee destinations. Neither decision will enhance U.S. security. The government of Yemen announced yesterday that it will take six detainees, and more could follow if this transfer goes smoothly. Yemenis account for 97 of the 210 men still left at Gitmo, and 34 have been cleared for release. The problem is that Yemen is emerging as one of the world's sanctuaries for al Qaeda, and its government has essentially run a nonaggression pact with the terrorists.

On Tuesday, the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb, citing an unnamed Senate aide, wrote that "the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn't fall into line." Translation: Goldfarb is reporting that, according to his source, the Obama administration is suggesting to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska (left), who has been hesitant to support the Senate health care bill due to his concerns over abortion, that it will close the base if Nelson doesn't back the bill. It was, the source said, a "naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and...

"One of the most erudite, prolific and acidic critics of national education policy." That's how the Washington Post memorialized Gerald Bracey shortly after his death in late October. One of his regular targets was President Obama's basketball buddy, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In an eerie parting shot from waaaay off-court, Bracey just slam-dunked Duncan. At the time of his death. Bracey was about to publish an article about the Save-A-Life Foundation's (SALF) relationship with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) when Duncan was in charge. "The Skeleton in Arne Duncan's Closet" was supposed to appear on Halloween in Bracey's...

This Wednesday, we went to a big Christmas party here in Chicago — one of the ones we weren’t invited to last year — purposefully — because we worked for the McCain campaign and were thus branded “traitors” here in Boystown. So, we were punished, and cut off from the really good parties, where all the really interesting people go for the holidays. This year, because so many people realize what a mess the current administration is, suddenly people don’t mind so much that we were DeMcCrats for McCain and remain Democrats for Palin (though that last one does make...

President Barack Obama’s past continues to haunt him. A friend e-mailed me this revealing post by Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr., pastor of The Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Virginia. Bishop Jackson wrote it last June, but I have not seen it circulated or mentioned before now. Now, someone found it and put it on their own blog. Like so many of us, Bishop Jackson describes himself as once a leftist Democrat; an African-American who grew up in a black urban community in Pennsylvania, and a man who is disturbed about what he calls “a strain of anti-Semitism in the black...

One of Rod Blagojevich's attorneys said Wednesday it was possible the defense could call President Obama to take the witness stand if the corruption charges against the former governor go to trial, but added that it wasn't clear that doing so would be necessary. Defense attorney Samuel E. Adam said following a hearing in the case that it would be "an awesome experience in any career" to question Obama, who is not accused of any wrongdoing but did answer questions from federal investigators. Blagojevich is charged with scheming to sell or trade Obama's former U.S. Senate seat, campaign fundraising abuses...

"...The charity was the Joyce Foundation on whose board of directors Obama served and which gave nearly $1.1 million in two separate grants that were “instrumental in developing and launching the privately-owned Chicago Climate Exchange, which now calls itself “North America’s only cap and trade system for all six greenhouse gases, with global affiliates and projects worldwide.” And that’s only the beginning of this tawdry tale, Mr. Barnes. The “privately-owned” Chicago Climate Exchange is heavily influenced by Obama cohorts Al Gore and Maurice Strong. For years now Strong and Gore have been cashing in on that lucrative cottage industry known...

Alonzo Monk, Guilty plea background, Obama, Blagojevich, Rezko, Levine, Kelly, Harris, Cellini, Indictment, Rezko trial transcripts, Chicago IL corruption, Crime, Board rigging, Evelyn Pringle articles ### Lest we forget about crime and corruption in Chicago and the involvement by Rod Blagojevich Tony Rezko Stuart Levine Christopher Kelly William Cellini John Harris Alonzo Monk et al and Obama’s ties to these corruption figures Alonzo Monk Guilty Plea Part II In part I of this two part series on Alonzo Monk’s guilty plea, the Citizen Wells blog presented background on Monk’s involvement in corruption and how it impacted health care in Chicago...

Note: Telephone transcript and web posts included. 15 December 2009 "AMF X 2" SNIPPET: "Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed were sentenced to prison yesterday in US District Court in Atlanta, Georgia. Sadequee got 17 years, and Ahmed 13 - both are subject to 30 years court supervision upon release. (Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the second link and read some of Judge Duffy's remarks to Sadequee). • Terrorism Defendants Sentenced • Federal Judge Sentences 2 Muslim Americans for Conspiring to Aid Terror Groups Sadequee and Ahmed were part of the global network of jihadis that...

The push to socialize U.S. health care came not from the "people," but from a small clique of Marxists, led by a man with close personal ties to President Barack Obama. This group's goal is fully socialized, government run "single payer" health care-as long promoted through Congressman John Conyers' National Health Insurance Act, or HR 676. The leader of this Marxist clique is Quentin Young-a retired Chicago physician, a life-long Marxist activist and long time friend and political ally of Barack Obama. Young has known and worked with Obama for years in Chicago and has reportedly directly influenced Obama's views...

Note: Informative hyptertext links at the article link. -Cindy # "Chicago: Anti-Democracy Hizb ut-Tahrir Group Event in Lombard, IL on December 20" SNIPPET: "Once again, another village in the Chicago suburbs will be the target of a public event by the anti-democracy, Islamic supremacist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir on Sunday, December 20 – this time using a government-managed community center in Lombard, Illinois. Hizb ut-Tahrir is an extreme group that is opposed to democracy and religious freedom, has called for the killing of Jews, recently called for whipping of homosexuals and stonings to combat AIDS, has reportedly called for the murder...

When Mayor Richard Daley spoke at the private and final meeting of Chicago 2016 volunteers, he was, according to one attendee, "in rare form." Another described him as "on a rant. It was straight off the cuff. ... He looked angry, and he was angry." Now, we weren't there. The press was barred from last week's meeting at the Aon Center and the reception that followed at the private Mid-America Club on the top floor of the building. About 150 to 200 volunteers attended, and four shared their impressions on the condition of anonymity. Daley started his remarks by calling...

Justice: A leaked memo exposes the hypocrisy of those who opposed indefinite detention of terrorists without trial at Guantanamo. For the right price, they're willing to hold detainees without trial indefinitely in America's heartland. The plan to ship as many as 100 unidentified terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay to a little used prison in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town of 450 people near the Mississippi River about 150 miles west of Chicago, is well under way, according to a Justice Department memo unearthed by Andrew Breitbart and biggovernment.com. The memo allegedly from Eric Holder's Department of Justice to Defense Secretary...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Pakistani-born Chicago businessman charged with helping plan an attack on a Danish newspaper knew about the assault on Mumbai in advance and discussed other potential targets in India, prosecutors said on Monday.U.S. In arguing against releasing Tahawwur Rana from jail on bond, federal prosecutors in Chicago gave more details about a conversation authorities recorded earlier this year between Rana and accused conspirator David Headley. In the September 7 conversation during a long car drive, Rana, 48, and Headley, 49, discussed Rana's meeting in Dubai days before the November 2008 attack on Mumbai with an associate referred...

Rod Blagojevich's lawyers want the FBI to give up details of interviews conducted last year of President Obama, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and others as part of the investigation into the former governor. In a Friday filing, Blagojevich attorneys also asked for information regarding first lady Michelle Obama. However, a source said late Friday that the FBI never interviewed the first lady. » Click to enlarge image Rod Blagojevich's lawyers want the FBI to give up details of interviews conducted last year with President Obama (from top left), Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett and...

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Classic pop rock band Chicago and Grammy-Award-winning songwriter Bill Champlin have parted ways after nearly three decades together. "Bill Champlin is no longer in Chicago. He was a long-time band member and we wish him all the best as he embarks on his new solo project, for which he's worked long and hard.," a statement from Chicago's management said Monday "After 28 years with Chicago, singer-songwriter-keyboardist Bill Champlin is parting ways with the classic jazz/rock band to focus once again on his solo career," Champlin's publicist Judi Kerr said of the split.

An 11-year-old old boy was killed and his father wounded Friday night when someone opened fire with a shotgun while they were in a vehicle, authorities said. Aston Wise, of the 6800 block of South East End Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. Chicago police believe the victims were not the targets. According to a law enforcement source, the gunman may have been looking for a relative of the victims.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Awad told IOL they plan to launch a website to be an online resource center for Muslims who are vulnerable to extremist ideologies." SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON – Leading American Muslim organizations and community leaders are planning to launch a website and organize a summit where young Muslims can ask mainstream scholars questions as part of renewed efforts to combat extremism." SNIPPET: "Usman Anwer, the District police officer in Sarghoda, Pakistan, confirmed to IOL Pakistan correspondent that the five arrestees are US nationals, including two of Pakistani background, one Yemeni origin and two of Egyptian background. He identified them as...

A Third Of City's Fire Equipment Sent Out For Chestnut Street BlazeA towering fire in a high-rise condo building in Streeterville left a woman dead and a dozen others hurt, and required the use of about a third of the city's fire equipment.CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports the 5-11 alarm fire broke out around 12:50 a.m. in the 51-story Plaza on DeWitt condo building, at 260 E. Chestnut St. about a block east of the John Hancock Center. Fire crews arrived to find flames shooting out of the 36th floor of the building. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that a woman died...

CHICAGO – Almost three months have passed, and the Chicago Police Department appears no closer to solving one of the most bizarre acts of fan-on-fan violence in recent memory. One that left Pittsburgh Steelers fan Zack Heddinger blind, and local authorities searching for a group of Chicago Bears fans that allegedly poisoned him. The frustrating search for clues began a few days after Heddinger passed out at South Loop bar Kitty O’Shea’s, and was taken to Rush University Medical Center following Chicago’s Sept. 20 win over Pittsburgh at Soldier Field. After drinking alcohol that was allegedly offered by a Bears...

The Cook County Prosecutors In Chicago have announced that they have charged the first gang member with possession of an illegal firearm under a new law the Illinois governor signed last week. He faces a potential 3 to 10 year sentence if convicted as a gang member in possession of a firearm, and no probation is available. We predicted late last week, when the bill became law, that persons charged under this law would also have committed several other crimes at the same time, and that there was a great possibility of this new "Enhanced Gun Crime" charge being plea...

Meet Chicago's secret Santa ... Steve Albini Stories of seasonal goodwill are increasingly rare these days, especially ones that involve the US postal service, Santa Claus and legendary producer Steve Albini. So prepare to have your cold, cold hearts melted by this joyous tale. According to the Chicago Tribune, Albini (best known for his work with Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Will Oldham, Shellac, oh you get the idea) loads a van with money, clothes and toys raised each year in a charity drive and dishes them out to cash-strapped families across the city. "There's so much money that it can literally...

VIDEO: Arne Duncan appears as "animated pitchman" for the Save-A-Life Foundation, ABC7 Chicago, 11/17/06 PHOTO: Ronald McDonald, Save-A-Life founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri, and Arne Duncan The Skeleton in Arne Duncan's Closet by Gerald W. BraceyEducation critic Jerry Bracey had just finished this column when he died on Oct. 20. He had planned to release it at his Huffington Post blog on Halloween. Hence the rattling skeletons theme. Click here to read an October 23, 2009 Washington Post obituary/tribune to Bracey.Halloween season is an appropriate time to talk about rattling skeletons in the closet. US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appears...

Note: The following text is a quote: Chicagoan Charged with Conspiracy in 2008 Mumbai Attacks in Addition to Foreign Terror Plot in Denmark Additional Charges Unsealed Alleging Retired Pakistani Major Conspired in Danish Plot New federal charges filed today allege that a Chicago man, who was arrested in October for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and two of its employees, also conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 terrorist attack on India’s largest city that killed approximately 170 people, including six Americans, and injured hundreds more. The defendant, David...

American Charged in Mumbai Terror Attacks December 7, 2009 - 12:59 PM | by: Mike Levine A Chicago man who was arrested in October for allegedly planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper has now been charged for his alleged role in the Mumbai terrorist attacks that happened a year earlier, in November 2008, and claimed the lives of nearly 170 people. David Coleman Headley, 49, was charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist...

In an indictment handed down Nov. 20 ....accused 15 individuals of being involved in the trafficking of cocaine and other narcotics in the Chicago area. .... aimed at dismantling the drug trafficking network of La Familia Michoacana (LFM), a mid-sized and relatively new drug cartel based in Michoacan state in southwestern Mexico. The U.S. investigation of LFM has revealed many details about the operation of the group in the United States and answered some important questions about the nature of Mexican drug trafficking and distribution north of the border. .....leaders are known to distribute documents to the group’s members that...

It started as an odd case of the FBI raiding a meat packing plant with hundreds of agents and now it's morphed into something much bigger. I've been telling you for weeks this was coming. I guess it just seemed too hard to believe that an American was involved. Originally David Headley was only charged with plotting to blow up the newspaper in Denmark that published the Mohammad cartoons. That plot seemed rather amateurish and was thought of as aspirational. But it soon became obvious to any one paying attention that Headley also had a hand in India's worst act...

A suspect who was burglarizing a Jeep Cherokee and was apparently found with a self-written “how to” guide for breaking into vehicles early Friday on the North Side was ordered held on $125,000 bond Saturday. == He was placed under arrest and one of the things police found as they were going through items he had on him was a “notebook or how-to guide on how to break into cars,’’ according to Barker who said it appeared he had written it himself. Some of the “tips” he had written in the guide included, “Keep looking around for five seconds. Run...

The "CRE-fail" news of the day comes from Chicago where Crains reports that Tishman Speyer has just defaulted on a major mezzanine loan, part of a $1.4 billion package of loans, in which the Federal Reserve is the the main lender via its Maiden Lane I program. Tishman-Speyer, whose 11 Chicago CRE holdings can be seen here, has allegedly defaulted on a mezz loan supporting 6 major commercial properties. The properties, 5.7 million sq. feet in total, represent roughly half of the CRE company's 12.2 million sq. feet of Chicago real estate. And while Tishman has enough of a real...