Events Newsletters Subscribe

Tag: Writers – Carol Felsenthal
Roland Burris: No Regrets on Accepting Senate Seat from Blagojevich
By Carol Felsenthal
After a nightmarish two years in Washington, former U.S. Senator Roland Burris is settling back into life in Illinois, trying to rebuild his reputation and retire an $800,000 debt from a legal battle to keep his Senate seat. Still, he told me he does not regret accepting the position from former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose retrial on corruption charges... Read more
Garrido Decides Against Recount in the 45th, but Is 'Contemplating' Suing SEIU
By Carol Felsenthal
After conferring with his lawyers, John Garrido told me in a telephone conversation this morning that he has decided against a recount in his razor-thin loss to John Arena in 45th Ward runoff. Although he says he suspects irregularities, Garrido has no proof yet—the Board of Elections has not yet released details—and the deadline for filing for a recount is... Read more
Lessons, Thoughts from the Aldermanic Runoffs
By Carol Felsenthal
I tracked all 14 aldermanic runoff races closely most of the day and late into the evening on Tuesday. Sound boring? Not for me—not with a new mayor coming in and the possibility, slim as it might be, that aldermen under Mayor Emanuel may morph into something more lively than potted plants. Here, some lessons and thoughts I had along the way... Read more
Solis Announces Lead Pollution Ordinance on Day Before Election; Morfin Cries Foul
By Carol Felsenthal
Alderman Danny Solis, in a runoff tomorrow for the 25th Ward seat, sent out a press release today announcing that he had drafted an anti-lead pollution ordinance requiring any “facility emitting lead at levels that are higher than... EPA standards... [to] cease operations immediately.” The release states that “new information” about “high lead levels” impacting a Pilsen elementary school prompted him to act... Read more
Toxic Lead in Pilsen—and Just Days Before the Solis-Morfin Runoff
By Carol Felsenthal
The front-page story in the Chicago Tribune today about toxic lead found in Pilsen has to strike fear into the hearts of the neighborhood’s parents. And it can’t be good news for 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis, either, as he is caught in a runoff with activist Cuahutémoc “Témoc” Morfin. Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne writes that a monitor placed... Read more
Danny Solis: The Establishment Candidate, but Campaigning like a Rookie
By Carol Felsenthal
Danny Solis, 61, and a grandfather, is running in his fifth—and least fun—election for alderman. Appointed in the 25th Ward on the Near West Side by Mayor Daley in 1996, Solis finds himself in his first runoff—against a tenacious, much younger opponent, Cuahutémoc “Témoc” Morfin, 39. (For details on the race, see my interview with Morfin. Solis is a machine stalwart... Read more
Rush Limbaugh Mistakes Educator Eleanor Kaye Wilson for the Obamas' Nanny
By Carol Felsenthal
"'The First Lady looked stunning, as always, as she stepped down the jet in a textured frock along with her husband and her two daughters,' her mother, and the nanny," Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday on his radio show, reading from an article he called "pathetic." The words "her mother, and the nanny," were added by the talk-show host—they were not in the story from which he quoted... Read more
Did Rahm Emanuel Have a Role in O'Hare Expansion?
By Carol Felsenthal
Yesterday, when lame-duck mayor Richard M. Daley finally got some of what he wanted in the building of a new runway and a new air traffic control tower at O’Hare, he got to take center stage. But people who follow city politics saw the hand of Rahm Emanuel, who has an old friend in Ray LaHood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation... Read more