Results tagged “blagojevich”

Intensely disliked Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) was taken into custody by the feds this morning at his Chicago home; his spokesman initially told a reporter, "Haven't heard anything -- you are first to call." While Blago has been the subject of a three-year corruption investigation, the Chicago Tribune reports the probe has "expanded to include his impending selection of a new U.S. senator to succeed President-elect Barack Obama." More fun: Blago also was angling to be named Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration AND wanted to get members of the Trib's editorial board fired for, uh, editorials critical of his administration. (Check out Chicagoist for live updates.)

The Chicago Tribune is, in 2008, finally getting around to dealing with the glorious, frustrating, and all-knowing voice of the commenter. This week the Tribune shut down their comment boards on all of their political news stories. What's more, the publication also yanked the Commenter's voice on a recent op-ed piece about Muslims and another story about Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Why? Bill Adee, associate managing editor who also oversees the online operations, "ordered the suspension of comments on politics after he noticed the number of writers unfairly trashing the candidates." But more likely, the Tribune's writers and editors are growing frustrated with seeing their pearls of journalistic wisdom adorn racist, tangential, salacious rants and lies.

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to.