WBEZ | Indiana

Calumet brain trust tackles environmental issues across state line

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:24:00 -0500

Although county lines parcel out the southern shore of Lake Michigan like garden plots, the environmental issues that unify people from Michigan City, Ind. to Chicago do not respect political boundaries.

Nor do most economic issues. Industrial decay and depopulation have left communities throughout the greater Calumet region with some common problems, as well as shared opportunities.

That was the message from the inaugural Calumet Summit, a conference convened this week in Gary, Indiana’s lakefront Marquette Park by the Calumet Stewardship Initiative.

The summit follows some major moves in the Calumet area, not least of which is the Millennium Reserve initiative, dubbed the nation's largest "open space" project. (Although it might better be described as a regional plan that ties conservation to urban redevelopment.)

After 140 years of heavy industry, many of the region’s factories have closed and left brownfields, violence and unemployment in their wake. And while efforts to rehabilitate the Great Lakes have mopped up some pollution and begun to clamp down on invasive species, a report released Tuesday by the international body that advises Canada and U.S. on the lakes said the area still faces serious challenges. Agricultural runoff, flooding, drought, and the march of both invasive species and a changing climate are among the problems that plague people who call the southern end of Lake Michigan home.

Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said as much Tuesday at the Calumet Summit. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal funding program initiated by President Barack Obama’s administration, has enabled environmental work and research in recent years. Perhaps more importantly, Brammeier said, it has brought attention to the region and galvanized those already doing important work on the ground.

"As important as the money is the near-universal expression of support for the program year after year," he said. "That’s really at the heart of the success in moving money to entities on the ground."

Volunteer environmental stewards and planners alike see a future in green development.

Few people articulate that vision better than Lauren Riga. Tapped by Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson to head Gary’s new department of Green Urbanism, 28-year-old Riga previously served as a U.N. delegate at the 2010 climate change conference. About one quarter of Gary's buildings are vacant. As Riga and the mayor look to spur an economic revival, they plan to incorporate green infrastructure into new development. Meanwhile local and state agencies have helped rehabilitate habitat along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, home to a series of fragile ecosystems known as pannes — wetlands nestled between sand dunes.

"[Riga] represents a new way of thinking for the region," said Andrew Pelloso, an environmental consultant who formerly worked for Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management.

"Everyone seems to see the region by Gary’s fate and fortune so what they do matters," he said.

Whether updating Northwest Indiana's stormwater infrastructure or retrofitting Chicago schoolyards, presenters at the summit emphasized action.

"Between now and the next summit go out and do something," U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky told the audience, "or everyone will have wasted their time over the two days."

Pelloso said for all the region’s challenges, and the bureaucratic headache it can be to get things done, the conference’s take-home message was affirming.

"We’re bound together by a common resource,” he said. “Not by state lines.”

Chris Bentley writes about environmental issues. Follow him on Twitter at @Cementley.

End of the line for Amtrak’s Hoosier State train?

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:13:00 -0500

Amtrak’s Hoosier State line has long been a popular way for college students at places like Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana to travel to Chicago for concerts, sporting events and to shop, especially on weekends.

“The Friday train can be pretty packed,” Marc Magliari, Amtrak’s Chicago-based spokesman, told WBEZ on Tuesday.

But that service between Chicago and Indianapolis could be disrupted if Indiana lawmakers don’t act soon to provide funding. The Hoosier State line runs four days a week between the two cities, carrying on average about 120 passengers per trip on trains that can accommodate up to 270 people, depending on demand. In 2012, some 37,000 riders boarded the Hoosier State line, according to Amtrak.

By October, the Hoosier State line could make its last run if $3 million in funding doesn’t come through from Indiana lawmakers. That’s because in 2008, Congress decided to eliminate funding for Amtrak routes that are less than 750-miles. Chicago to Indianapolis is less than 200.

Tim Maloney hopes that does not happen.

“We’re very interested in seeing more (Indiana) investment and involvement with transportation alternatives to motor vehicles on highways because of the environmental and energy-savings benefits that those alternatives provide,” said Maloney, senior policy director the Indianapolis-based Hoosier Environmental Council.

Maloney’s been keeping a watchful eye during this last week for legislative action in the Indiana House and Senate. Hoosier lawmakers are busying putting the final touches on a new two-year budget. Maloney said the Senate’s version of the budget includes funding to keep the Hoosier State line going.

Maloney believes there is a demand for alternatives to driving between Chicago and Indy, even though Amtrak can take up to five hours compared to approximately three hours in a car from downtown Chicago.

“We believe there will be a growing demand for those alternative based on high gas prices and demographic changes. So, we think it’s a good idea for the state to diversify its transportation investment, including passenger rail and urban public transit,” Maloney said.

Indiana isn’t the only state who has to decide whether to keep an Amtrak train route to Chicago up and running. A route from Chicago to St. Louis and Detroit to Chicago are also at risk of losing funding.

If the Hoosier State route is eliminated, passengers can still utilize the Cardinal line that runs three days a week from Chicago to Indy. Because the Cardinal line connects to the East Coast, funding continues. Maloney says Amtrak has seen an 80 percent growth in the last five years and thinks it could get more.

“It’s close to 40,000 passengers a year and that’s based on having just one train a day going each day,” Maloney said.

Maloney said work is being done to improve travel times, primarily because Amtrak often has to stop for freight trains in its path during its four-stop trip which includes one stop outside Chicago in Dyer, Indiana.

“But there’s no question travel times need to improve. That’s a key for attracting more riders,” Maloney said.

But besides travel convenience, Maloney says there’s also an issue of jobs. Amtrak operates a maintenance center in Beech Grove, a suburb of Indianapolis that provides about 550 jobs.

“Amtrak spends over $21 million dollars a year buying goods and services from Indiana companies,” Maloney said. “There are 99 companies in Indiana that benefit and can benefit from passenger rail service, that’s second only to Ohio.”

Meanwhile, the Indiana Department of Transportation has hired an engineering consultant to evaluate what types of schedule changes might make Amtrak service in Indiana self-supporting. If Hoosier lawmakers don’t make a decision this week on whether to fund the route, it could write the money into the budget and decide at a later time whether to use it on the route.

But Maloney questions some media reports suggesting Indiana can wait until October to decide.

"If the legislature doesn't allocate the funding this week, it may not have the money to fund it later. This is a very important time," Maloney said.

On Wednesday morning, the Hoosier State pulled into the depot in Dyer, Indiana with no one boarding or getting off. When asked if she thinks Indiana will continue funding for the route, a female Amtrak conductor speaking from a window said, "I think they will."

Michael Puente is a reporter at WBEZ. Follow him on Twitter at @MikePuenteNews

Delay and denial in Pines

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:59:00 -0500

The Town of Pines, Ind., is an unassuming place. There’s no factory or skyline to compete with the smoky towers of Gary and nearby Michigan City. Sitting at the edge of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Pines is home to just over 700 people, two gas stations, one church and one bank. It’s easy to miss unless you're looking for it, as it's tucked among groves of trees along U.S. Highway 12.

Pines does, however, have a landmark of sorts.

The unceremoniously-named Yard 520 is an out-of-use landfill that sits kitty-corner from Pines' public park. There's no household garbage under the yard's rolling expanse of green grass; instead, the landfill holds an estimated 1.5 million tons of ash from coal burned at a Michigan City power plant, which sits about three miles away. Half of Yard 520’s fill is unlined.

The ash dumping in Yard 520 started almost fifty years ago. Twelve years ago, the town learned the water was contaminated with pollutants that can leach from coal ash. Nine years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared most of Pines a cleanup site. And still today, the Pines cleanup is a web of distrust between residents, the companies responsible for the ash and the EPA.

“My husband and I bought our home here to raise our family,” said Cathi Murray, the vice president of Pines’ town council. “We thought we found our own little piece of paradise. Well, it turns out to be pretty much our own little piece of hell.”

Pines' blue lawn ornaments

The people in Pines first learned there was a problem in 2000, when a resident tasted something funny in her well water and complained to environmental authorities. After that, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the EPA conducted tests that turned up elevated levels of manganese, boron, molybdenum, arsenic and lead. Residents and their environmentalist allies spent years agitating over the issue, and the EPA made almost the entire town a cleanup site in 2004.

For Murray, the damage was already done. She had moved to Pines with her husband years earlier and put down roots, working as a school teacher and raising two kids. She'd already spent a decade drinking tap water that came straight out of the ground in Pines; while she was pregnant, she says, she swore off pop and coffee and drank only well water.

"So I have an older daughter who was born with a rare bowel disorder, and I have a younger daughter who was born hearing impaired," she said. "Do you think I will ever stop wondering, did the water I drink have anything to do with that?”

The EPA began circling around a suspect: coal combustion waste, or coal ash, the material stored in Yard 520. The presumption was that as water struck underground ash deposits, it would pick up traces of arsenic, boron, and other elements that can be dangerous if consumed at high levels. The contaminated water would continue moving underground, only to be drawn into residents' drinking wells.

NIPSCO, the utility that had dumped most of the ash, and the landfill owner, Brown, agreed to pipe in municipal water from Michigan City to two separate parts of Pines. After residents without municipal water (including Murray) sued the companies, they extended the water lines to most of the town under a new agreement with the EPA. About 50 homes in Pines still have no access to the new municipal pipes. For the past nine years they've drunk bottled water provided by the companies; today you can spot big, blue containers on some homes’ front lawns or driveways.

And Yard 520 is not the only potential source of contamination in the town. In the sixties and seventies coal ash was used as road base and structural fill throughout Pines. You can literally pick the light, shimmery black stuff off the ground in roadways, driveways and even yards. Murray says her children used to play with it before anyone realized the potential danger.

An alternative approach?

“You have to cook with bottled water, boil spaghetti, potatoes ... drink bottled water,” said Shirley McColpin. She and her husband own one of about fifty homes in Pines that still have well water in their pipes. “I just don’t think people should have to live like that.”

The responsible companies pay for water for people like McColpin, but she’s tired of waiting for the outcome of the official cleanup. She says she’s never had her well tested, and she’s afraid to wash in the water. McColpin says her husband dodged a bout with skin cancer just a couple years ago.

“Somebody polluted our water and somebody’s responsible for this,” McColpin said. “Fess up ... and give us our water.”

From the vantage of people like McColpin, the cleanup begun in 2004 has been slow and the definition of "cleanup" slippery. But the EPA and NIPSCO say they’ve done all they can to involve the community in what's called a “Superfund Alternative Agreement,” a less formal version of the official Superfund cleanup program. The “alternative” approach, they say, can save time and money by allowing polluters to enter into voluntary but legally-binding agreements.

Superfund Alternative sites are not listed on the EPA’s National Priorities List for hazardous contamination sites, although they meet the exact same criteria for the severity of the pollution. The strategy is logical: Superfund cleanups are notoriously complicated and time-consuming, and listing a site on the NPL can involve lengthy litigation. With the Superfund Alternative, the EPA drops legal battles, while industry avoids the bad P.R. smell that comes with having a Superfund site under your nose.

But observers of Pines and other cleanup sites question whether this route is actually transparent and expedient. A recent EPA assessment says the alternative approach doesn’t necessarily make cleanups cheaper or faster. And Pines residents have repeatedly accused the EPA and the companies of making decisions about the cleanup behind closed doors.

“We feel that we’ve done more community involvement at the Pines site than some of our NPL sites,” said Rick Karl, who heads the EPA Region 5 Superfund Division. He says there’s no real difference in transparency or oversight from a regular Superfund cleanup aside from the formality of NPL listing.

Between 2002 and 2011, Region 5 established more alternative sites than the rest of the country combined. But Karl says he has not evaluated whether Superfund Alternative cleanups are faster or cheaper.

That’s not surprising, or so says Lisa Evans, an environmental activist and lawyer who worked for the EPA in the 1980s. “Are cleanups being done faster, does the community have more involvement in those sites, is it costing industry or the government less money?” Evans said. “None of that is true. What the advantage is, is that industry doesn’t have the stigma of having a Superfund site.”

Indeed, NIPSCO and their consultants are quick to point out that Pines is not a regular Superfund site and they are only “potentially responsible parties” under the alternative agreement. In other words, they’ve agreed to pay the price for cleanup, but they haven’t necessarily accepted blame for Pines’ groundwater contamination. The irony is that people like Shirley McColpin haven’t avoided the stigma of living in a contamination zone.

“We’ve just been held prisoner,” she said. “You can’t sell your home, real estate agents won’t come. They don’t say, ‘You have poison water we’re not coming.’ But that’s the reason they don’t come.”

The slow grind

A likely culprit behind the pace of Superfund cleanups is the principle of the “polluter pays.”

As in most Superfund sites, the companies responsible for coal ash in Pines bankrolled the environmental investigation. They hired their own consultants, but they also issued grants to a citizen’s group, People in Need of Environmental Safety (P.I.N.E.S.), to hire an independent technical advisor to review the studies of environmental and human health risks from coal ash in Pines.

The result? The experts (again, one representing the company, another representing the citizens’ group) spar over technical details, while the residents absorb mixed messages about the contamination’s severity and sources. According to P.I.N.E.S. technical advisor, Chuck Norris of GeoHydro, fundamental questions remain unanswered — despite the fact that the EPA is nine years into its investigation.

For example, Norris says the EPA and AECOM haven’t adequately measured how much coal ash was buried and spread around Pines, where it’s located, or how much of the contamination can be accurately attributed to coal ash used as road fill. And, he says, the arsenic showing up in monitoring wells near the landfill has never been located in soil or water samples taken in other places, despite the fact that it’s presumably spreading with the groundwater plume or filtering out into the soil.

Norris is also perplexed about the lack of a definitive groundwater model. In other words, NIPSCO’s consultants offered several predictions about where the contaminated plume of water is moving, none of which were accepted by the EPA. That debate took years, and still left the cleanup with no groundwater model at all, a move Norris calls “very unusual” for a groundwater contamination site.

The EPA approved the environmental reports sanctioned by NIPSCO at each stage even when those reports lacked what Norris considers key information. Norris finds this disconcerting.

“We’re going to leave the gorilla in the room, but we’re not going to make you acknowledge that the gorilla’s there,” he said. “Even though whether or not it’s there seems to be important.”

But Norris says it’s too soon to declare the cleanup a success or failure; the proof, he says, will be in the pudding. And, he says, it can be hard for affected residents to face the fact that a “cleanup” of groundwater contamination is never really over.

“It’s always a balance between what technically can be done, what it costs to do it and how much damage will be allowed to continue in lieu of trying to do more,” he said. “A perfect cleanup doesn’t exist. Once these contaminants are out, they’re out.”

And here’s the latest message Pines residents have had to absorb: The most recent studies of the site approved by the EPA find no significant risk to human health from coal ash contamination.

This seemingly reassuring news is the word of the consultant overseeing the science in Pines on behalf of the companies. That person also happens to be a leading advocate for the coal ash industry.

At the helm: An advocate for coal ash reuse

Lisa Bradley has managed the environmental investigation in Pines since 2004 as an employee of AECOM, an international consulting giant. AECOM already has a coal ash track record: In 2009 the Inspector General for the Tennessee Valley Authority, the utility responsible for the wet ash disaster in Kingston, accused AECOM of understating the company’s responsibility.

And last year, Lisa Bradley joined the executive committee of the powerful American Coal Ash Association, an association of utilities and marketers in the business of promoting what they call the “beneficial use” of coal ash.

The national industry in coal ash recycling is worth more than $2 billion a year. Companies say various types of dry ash from coal combustion can be safely used in roads, in concrete, or even in toothpaste. The EPA’s currently weighing two proposed regulations on the use of coal ash; industry broadly favors one that’s less restrictive. The agency’s sat silent on both since 2011.

Also, the EPA itself supports coal ash reuse, and in 2011 the inspector general slapped the agency’s wrist over the issue. The agency, the IG wrote, had collaborated with industry to support the practice of coal ash reuse, despite the lack of data about the potential risks.

Bradley attends industry events, where she promotes the idea that coal ash is similar in composition to soil. Environmentalist groups have smeared her work as “junk science.” But she doesn’t believe her advocacy makes her unqualified for the Pines jobs.

“I don’t see it as a conflict,” said Bradley. “I’m very well trained in what I do. I’ve been doing it for a long time. Certainly everything we’ve done for Pines has followed EPA guidance and regulations.”

All of this is incontrovertible. Bradley’s been a toxicologist at AECOM for 22 years. And in any EPA cleanup, the agency ultimately approves all the reports and decides the outcome based on its own regulatory powers.

Yet the EPA’s own research has documented two dozen proven cases of environmental or health problems caused by coal ash, and dozens more potential cases. Numerous scientific studies demonstrate that the elements present in coal ash can harm human health, animals and the environment. An investigative report by the Center for Public Integrity finds industry has had a hand in holding back state regulations and fighting against federal ones.

So how could a figure like Bradley end up in such a key position in Pines?

“They’re providing facts and information just as any other toxicologist would provide,” said Nick Meyer, a spokesman for NIPSCO. He says the company selected AECOM as consultants through a standard bidding process. The data the consultants provide, he says, is not subjective. “A 12-inch ruler is gonna measure something the same as it measures something down the road.”

But the comparison is not apt. Environmental reports are hundreds of pages long and include thousands of pieces of data gathered from wells and soil samples. EPA feedback on those reports is even more substantive; I’ve been told a Freedom of Information Act request for comments and communications about the Pines reports will take six months to fulfill.

When I asked Rick Karl of EPA Region 5 about concerns that this cleanup could be influenced by the coal ash industry, his response was simple.

“We use our own scientists to review and prepare comments on any document that is developed by a responsible party,” Karl said.

In other words, the buck stops with the EPA. Though, of course, not everyone sees it that way, particularly those who think the EPA’s dropped the ball on coal ash.

“The problem lies in relying on the polluter to do the investigation,” said Evans, adding that having the EPA make corrections after the fact is a waste of time at best. “Because the polluter has a vested interest in keeping those costs low. It’s a situation of the fox guarding the chicken coop.”

Evans argues potential gaps in oversight are built into “the polluter pays” model of almost all EPA cleanups. Keep in mind that there are more than 1,000 of these sites around the country, and Pines is neither the most contaminated, nor the most controversial.

But despite the confusion it can cause for residents and the potential for conflicts of interest, the “polluter pays” model is all the EPA has to work with. The EPA’s Superfund program hasn’t received new funding since 1995, and the Obama administration’s efforts to reinstate the Superfund tax have gone nowhere. In the meantime, the EPA is placing fewer new sites on the National Priorities List, and Superfund Alternative Approach sites are on the rise.

As it stands now (in Pines, and around the country), if the polluter doesn’t pay, no one does.

The clock will keep ticking

“The coal industry wants a free hand to dispose of this stuff how they see fit,” said George Adey, the Pines Town Council president. “Our community is a perfect example of why we need a stronger EPA and stronger regulation for coal ash.”

That kind of sentiment’s drawing more attention lately, especially after the Kingston disaster. That incident reminded environmentalists and lawmakers that towns such as Pines had been treated like coal ash dumps, though it hasn’t led to much action. The EPA has been sitting on two proposed regulations on the disposal of coal ash since 2010, and the states offer a hodge-podge of guidelines. As it stands, the states regulate the disposal of coal ash in more than a thousand ponds and landfills around the country, many of them unlined.

Coal remains a major source of energy in the Chicago region as well as the entire nation. And environmentalists say “clean coal” is a fallacy if you consider the continued production of unregulated coal ash.

New regulatory developments are likely to pass Pines by, since NIPSCO no longer dumps ash there. The clock, though, will still be running on the cleanup. The EPA says it expects to announce what cleanup requirements it will impose on NIPSCO and Brown in early 2015.

Meanwhile, the Yard 520 landfill still sits at the edge of the town. There’s a marshy ditch right next to Yard 520 that captures most of the contaminated runoff from the area and carries it through the town of Pines and through Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

The final destination? Lake Michigan.

Lewis Wallace is a WBEZ Pritzker Journalism Fellow. Follow him @lewispants.

The air show won’t go on in Gary

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:16:00 -0500

Northwest Indiana is losing its most popular summer event: the South Shore Air Show in Gary.

Due to federal sequestration cuts the the Navy’s popular Blue Angels and the Air Force’s Thunderbirds have been temporarily grounded this year. That news already dampened enthusiasm for Chicago’s Air and Water Show in August, though the show above Navy Pier is still scheduled to occur.

But organizers in Northwest Indiana had to pull the plug on the entire South Shore Air Show. Thousands typically line the southern shore of Lake Michigan for the annual event, which was set to enter its 14th year this July

In addition to the high-profile precision aerial acts the show usually features other military aircrafts such as a C-130 cargo plane, F-22, F-16s and F-18s.

Already, more than 30 air shows across the country have been canceled this year and Gary now joins the list.

“It’s the most popular summer event in Northern Indiana, north of Indianapolis,” organizer Speros Batistatos, of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, told WBEZ Tuesday. “Trying to do this event under the best circumstances is difficult. Trying to replace it with something else with only a couple of months to go, is impossible.”

The Navy and U.S. Air Force often use these air shows to recruit new members.

“These are the governments’ first line marketing contact in recruiting. One of the reasons why you put the Thunderbirds on the road or the Golden Knights or other military acts is so that the young people of this great country can see and say “Hey, you know what, maybe the military might be a viable option for my career, my training and my education,” Batistatos said. “Fundamentally, it’s very silly that at a time when we need more military recruits, we need a stronger military presence, to ground the very marketing core of what we do to me makes no business sense whatsoever.”

And while there are civilian air acts, such as the popular Lima Lima aerial stunt team, Batistatos says there’s not enough of them to create an entire afternoon show. Batistatos said cancelling the show was not an easy decision to make.

“We have spent countless hours considering the effect of sequestration on our air show sponsorship opportunities, programming, attendance, and the overall financial viability of producing an all civilian aircraft event. It is with a heavy heart, that we have decided that despite our best efforts, we must cancel this year’s show,” Batistatos said. “This was a very tough decision, but when options were weighed, this was viewed to be in the best interest of all participating parties of the air show, from spectators to sponsors.”

While the air show could be seen all along the lakefront in Gary, from various vantage points, the prime viewing spot was near Marquette Park in Gary’s Miller Beach neighborhood. Therefore, the city of Gary will lose thousands in parking fees without those visitors, along with the loss of revenue from the selling of food and souvenirs.

In all, Batistatos says the region will lose about $8 million over a three day weekend in July.

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson was not happy about the canceled show.

“We are very sorry that the air show had to be canceled. We will see more casualties that are a direct result of parties' failure to work together,” Freeman-Wilson said in a written statement. “In the end, this has an adverse effect on communities that are least able to withstand the impact -- cities like Gary.”

Michael Puente is a reporter with WBEZ. Follow him on Twitter @MikePuenteNews.

Eat this, drink that: Maple Syrup Festival and more

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:00:00 -0600

Friday, March 1

DCASE (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) presents the 10th annual Creative Chicago Expo at the Chicago Cultural Center. The two day event kicks off Friday, and Saturday Honey Butter Fried Chicken chefs/owners Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp give a keynote talk. All keynotes will be videotaped for future broadcast by Chicago Works and CAN-TV. The expo connects Chicago’s creative community with resources they need to thrive. Admission FREE.

Saturday, March 2

I've been looking forward to this immersive maple experience since last year. Burton’s Maplewood Farm presents the the first and only National Maple Syrup Festival in Medora, Indiana. The two weekend event begins with your choice of an all-you-can-eat pancake, sausage, and — oh yes — real maple syrup breakfast at the Medora Community School, or breakfast served all day on the farm. Beyond breakfast: maple BBQ pork chops, "SECRET RECIPE" maple baked beans, and more. I'll be back as one of the judges for the Sweet Victory Challenge presented by King Arthur Flour and the National Maple Syrup Festival. Admission $10 adults, $8 seniors (65 and over), $6 youth (5 to 15), FREE children (4 and under). Donate one canned good for a $2 discount; all donations benefit local food pantries.

Chicago Foodways Roundtable presents Soup & Bread: Building Community One Pot at a Time at Kendall College. Mistress of S&B herself, Miss Martha Bayne, will speak, and yes, of course there will be soup and bread. Admission $3, FREE for Kendall students and faculty with ID.

Sunday, March 3

Glenwood Sunday Market presents the 4th annual Heat it UP!! Chili Cook Off Contest and Festival at The Glenwood Bar. Cash prizes for first, second, and third place chili winners! Plus prizes for the most chilis tasted by a taster. Admission $10 for tasters, $15 for chili head chefs (entries due Thursday, February 28).

Monday, March 4

Common Threads presents the 7th annual Chicago World Festival at Soldier Field. Best known as former Oprah chef Art Smith's charity, the non-profit celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The festival draws celebrity chefs from around the city and the world. Admission $250 general, $500 World Festival VIP, $1,000 Chef Experience VIP, $150 Chef After Party.

Tuesday, March 5

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum presents Re-Thinking Soup at the Hull House Kitchen. This month, a conversation with the author of Behind the Kitchen Door, Saru Jayaraman (foreword by Eric Schlosser), on sustainable restaurants, labor practices, working conditions, and wages in American restaurants. As always gather together and eat delicious, healthy soup, plus bread by Nicole's Divine Crackers. Admission FREE.

Wednesday, March 6

Soup & Bread presents this week's theme, The Ground ("soups of the subterranean world") at the Hideout. Very special soup chefs this week include the one and only Edzo, chef/owner Eddie Lakin of the eponymous burger and shake shops. Plus bread from Publican Quality Meats and La Farine Bakery. Admission FREE, by donation.

Follow me on Twitter at @louisachu.

Killer mistakenly freed recaptured in Illinois

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:27:00 -0600

Two days after a stunning series of errors allowed a convicted murderer to walk out of a Chicago jail where he did not need to be in the first place, police recaptured the man at a northern Illinois home where he was found watching TV.

Steven L. Robbins, 44, put up no resistance Friday night as police burst through the door of a townhome in Kankakee, about 60 miles south of Chicago, said Cook County Sheriff's Office spokesman Frank Bilecki.

"He was in the living room or kitchen area watching TV, taken by total surprise," Bilecki said, adding that it appears the homeowner might know an acquaintance of Robbins.

The mistaken release of the prisoner, who was serving a 60-year sentence in Indiana for murder, focused attention on an antiquated corner of the criminal justice system that still relies extensively on paper documents instead of computers in moving detainees around and keeping tabs on their court status.

The episode prompted promises of change, but also some finger-pointing about who was ultimately to blame for a mistake with precedent in the Cook County system.

"We're not ducking the fact we dropped the ball. We made mistakes," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Friday. "The public deserves much more. We're going to find out what went wrong here."

In Robbins' case, his transfer to Illinois to begin with was the result of a mistake, officials said.

He was brought before a Cook County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday and Wednesday over drug and armed violence charges in a case that it turns out had been dismissed in 2007. But because law enforcement authorities were still seeing an active arrest warrant, his transfer was requested and approved, according to Dart's office.

In a second lapse that Dart took responsibility for, he acknowledged that paperwork was lost that would have made it clear to Illinois officials that Robbins was to be returned to Indiana custody. As a result, he was allowed to walk out of the Cook County Jail's main gate on Wednesday evening. It took another 24 hours before the public was alerted that he was on the loose.

But Dart and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, both prominent local Democrats, exchanged tense words Friday about who should accept responsibility for having Robbins brought to Chicago from Indiana.

Alvarez said her office had told Dart's office that Robbins' drug and armed violence case was closed. But Dart's office proceeded to bring him to Chicago, she said, because of confusion over the outcome of the case and because Robbins demanded to stand trial.

"The Cook County Sherriff's Police, despite the fact that the assistant state's attorney told them that they didn't have to bring him back, they thought it would be better if they did bring him back to get this all cleared up because the guy keeps writing letters demanding trial," Alvarez told reporters.

But Dart said his office sought — and was granted — permission from the state attorney's office to bring Robbins to Chicago. The sheriff showed The Associated Press a copy of the extradition request from September signed by one of Alvarez's prosecutors.

Robbins, a Gary, Ind., native, was serving a sentence for murder and weapons convictions out of Marion County in Indiana.

Witnesses to the 2002 killing told police Robbins was arguing with his wife outside a birthday party in Indianapolis when a man intervened, telling Robbins he should not hit a woman, according to court documents.

Witnesses said Robbins then retrieved a gun from a car and shot the man in the chest before fleeing. He started serving his sentence in October 2004.

He was expected to be transferred back to the state prison in Michigan City, Ind., on Saturday.

"We are grateful that law enforcement caught him before he committed another crime," Indiana Department of Corrections spokesman Doug Garrison said.

It is not the first time a prisoner has been mistakenly freed from the Cook County Jail. In 2009, Jonathan Cooper, who was serving a 30-year manslaughter sentence in Mississippi, was brought to Chicago to face charges that he failed to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors dropped the charges because, as an inmate, he could not comply with the Sex Offender Registration Act. A clerk reportedly failed to include the Mississippi sentence information in Cooper's file, and jail staff released him.

Cooper turned himself in several days later.

The Hal Higdon interview

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:50:00 -0600

I began running a few years ago and was quickly turned on to the training regimens of today’s interviewee, who has maintained careers in both running and writing that are impressive for their quality, output and longevity. He has contributed to Runner's World for longer than any other writer, an article by him having appeared in that publication's second issue in 1966.

Author of 36 books, including the best-selling Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, now in its 4th edition, Higdon also has written books on many subjects and for different age groups. His children's book, The Horse That Played Center Field, was made into an animated feature by ABC-TV. He ran eight times in the Olympic Trials and won four world masters championships. At the American Society of Journalist and Author's annual meeting in 2003, the Society gave Higdon its Career Achievement Award, the highest honor given to writer members. You can learn much more about him and his programs here.

What have been some of the most beautiful runs you’ve ever been on?
Indiana Dunes State Park remains at the top of my list. There's a bit of everything: flat and fast to steep with scenery, on clear days the Chicago skyline. In second place, maybe the Redwood Forest in Rotarua, New Zealand. Bermuda has probably the most scenic marathon among the 111 I have run.

What do you find are some of the silliest trends in running, either in terms of training or gear?
I'm not sure silly trends exist in running. At least I'm not arrogant enough to brand so-called trends as "silly." As long as you are a runner, and love the sport as much as I do, I'm comfortable with whatever silliness you carry in your running baggage.

What do you do (or did you do, knowing you don’t run quite as much as you used to) when a run is just a slog? Was there a physical or mental way that typically made the run go by faster, or do you just suck it up (or just abort?)
Run being a slog? Does that ever happen? Maybe to mere mortals. If there is a physical reason why any run is a slog, then you need to bail out and hope you are not more than 10 miles from your parked car.

You’ve published so many different kinds of writing; what’s one style that you never tried that you’d like to (or that you wished you were more proficient at)?
If you had asked me that question 3 or 4 years ago, I would have answered that I would like to write a novel. But since that time, I fulfilled that desire to write a work of fiction. Titled simply Marathon, it describes the 72 hours leading up to a major marathon that strongly resembles Chicago.

What was your reaction to the New York marathon being canceled in the wake of Hurricane Sandy?
I don't want to second-guess Mary Wittenberg, director of the New York City Marathon, or the Mayor who in their earliest pronouncements in the middle of the week immediately after the hurricane wanted the marathon to proceed as planned. I thought then it was a bad decision, but they corrected themselves and cancelled the race. That was the right decision, even if it came at a late hour. It did not make sense to me to have runners frolicking through the streets of New York while people were suffering, their homes destroyed, without power. Many runners decided to run anyway in Central Park without worry about time and distance. Others went to near the starting line in Staten Island to help in the cleanup. I applaud them all. I also applaud all those who told the marathon organizers, no, this is not something we want happening in our back yards during this critical time for New York City.

Running seems so incredibly basic yet it continues to be a topic of much conversation and publication. Why does such a simple activity generate so much discussion, reflection and advice?
It's a self-help topic, certainly. Back when I first got into running, nobody cared much about the sport, except at the Olympic level and, in the case of the marathon, once a year at Boston. But now we have marathons that attract tens of thousands of runners. We are an attractive demographic, so our foibles attract a certain amount of interest.

Related, running is an incredibly intimidating activity for many people. Why do you think it’s so much more daunting to many people than, say, bike riding?
Daunting? I probably put more miles in biking these days than I do running, and whether the word "daunting" should be attached to running, I don't know. I also hate the word "grueling" being attached to our endurance events. I'm going to suggest that biking is a lot more dangerous an activity than running, particularly in areas where we share the roads with four-wheeled or four-legged creatures. Cars can't hit you and dogs can't chase you when you're running cross-country.

What do you typically think about when you run?
Anything and everything. One of the great pleasures of running is to allow your mind to freewheel while you run. Anything can attract my attention from a seagull pitter-pattering on the beach to a sunset to an attractive female runner who says, "Hi" as we pass, even though we may never see each other again.

I had lunch with some friends last year who were in town to run the Chicago Marathon and I said that marathon running/training didn’t seem very fun to me. “It’s not,” they confirmed. Do you agree?
No, but I don't really care whether anyone--particularly non-runners--considers what we do as being "fun." Just please get out of our way, but it would be nice if you kept your dog on the leash and didn't text while driving past us in your overpriced cars. But, hey, hasn't the focus of this interview been rather negative so far. I would rather focus on running as a positive, rather than a negative. If running were that difficult, you wouldn't find so many people doing it these days.

Throughout your life you’ve accomplished so much as both a writer and a runner. In the last couple of decades, which was more difficult to generate, running goals or writing goals?
Running goals were easy. At the start of the year, you simply asked yourself, what do I want to accomplish in the next 12 months? For me, it might have been successful participation in an Olympic Trial. It might have been trying to win a world masters championship. Or it might be simply getting through the year healthy and uninjured. Writing goals? I'm not sure I had any writing goals. Each article assignment, each book contract, provided a goal of some sort. The goal was to finish the assignment, to get paid, then to move onto the next assignment.

You’ve mentioned in other interviews that you’re an incredibly organized writer. What are some of your methods for staying so organized?
Did I use the word "incredibly?" That seems to be a bit of an overreach. If Hemingway had ever used "incredibly" in a first draft, that would have been the first word scratched out in draft two. Organization? It's part of a person's mindset. It's not being afraid of doing what you're good at doing. I've always been able to get up in the morning, go for a run (or more often now a bike ride), have breakfast, then sit down at the typewriter (or more often now a computer) and begin the job of the day. I've never suffered writer's block. I don't know what it is. Starting each assignment, I usually had a clear path down the road to finishing the job. Because I was a good researcher and interviewer, I usually knew the ending before I knew the beginning. One editor once told me that she loved my articles, because they had a beginning, a middle and an end. Made her job much easier. She could concentrate on commas rather than paragraphs. I took whatever time it took to do produce as perfect a product as possible. It might be an hour's worth of work for a 600-word column. It might be a year or more for a 100,000-word book. I've never felt I had a "method" for writing. Nothing that would make the cover of a magazine aimed at embryo writers. I just wrote. Organization enabled me to write swiftly, because I never had to pause to think of what to say next.

You originally got your start as an aspiring comics writer. Do you still enjoy comics? Which do you read?
Actually my aspiration was not to be a comics writer; it was more to be a comics artist. But in creating the art, I also created the words that accompanied the art. My goal in high school was to someday create a comic strip the near equal of Terry and the Pirates by the most accomplished writer/artist of the era when I was in high school, maybe of any era. Milton Caniff, and he was considered the Rembrandt of the Comic Strips. I drew comic strips in high school, but also wrote them. Eventually, I realized I was a much better writer than runner and shifted careers. I rarely read comic books any more. They cost too much vs. the 10 cents I paid when I was a kid. They also drag the stories out too long. Too much fighting and not enough thought. My son has a subscription to The Amazing Spider-Man, so I borrow his copies now and then and read them eight at a time. I more often read the comic strips that come with the papers. Sadly, they are shrunk to such tiny boxes that sometimes it's hard to read the word balloons. You almost need a magnifying glass for Doonesbury. With the shrunken sizes, all the well drawn adventure strips have disappeared. You don't see anything as well drawn or well written as Prince Valiant, Tarzan or Flash Gordon any more. Instead, we're stuck with gag-a-day. Among that genre, I like Frazz, because he's a runner and triathlete and For Better or For Worse, because there's some continuity to the story line. I might add that I collect original comic art and have a lot of it hanging on my office walls. I'm staring at a Daredevil page by John Romita, Jr. right now.

You’ve said that when you were younger, running wasn’t an acceptable activity for anyone over 17. Why do you think that was so, and what, broadly, do you think was the turning point for running becoming a more widespread hobby?
There was no competitive opportunities: no track meets or road races, or at least very few opportunities for out-of-school athletes. When I first ran Boston in 1959, only about 100 others participated. Very few track or cross-country runners continued beyond high school and college, and most of them were fairly accomplished, capable of sub-3 marathon times. But the focus had begun to shift toward a fitness-based sport, prompted by best-selling books by Bill Bowerman (Jogging) and Dr. Ken Cooper (Aerobics), but also an article about the Boston Marathon titled "On the Run from Dogs and People" that I wrote for Sports Illustrated in 1963. By the end of the 1960s, a thousand runners entered Boston, and running was en route to becoming a mainstream sport, helped by Frank Shorter's gold medal in the Olympic Marathon in 1972.

What do you like most about using social media as a tool for coaching?
I can do it at home.

How does it feel to be the 339th person interviewed for Zulkey.com?
It depends on who you pick for # 340.

Northwest Indiana judge to head state child welfare agency

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:55:00 -0600

A longtime juvenile court judge in Northwest Indiana will lead the state’s embattled child welfare agency.

Mary Beth Bonaventura has been the senior judge for the juvenile court system in Lake County, Indiana for the last 20 years.

She’s developed a reputation for being tough but fair, often presiding over cases involving teens facing charges for murder, drug offenses and sex crimes.

But soon, Bonaventura will step down to head Indiana’s Department of Child Services.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence announced the change yesterday.

“Judge Bonaventura is uniquely qualified to lead the state's Department of Child Services and help to protect Hoosier children from abuse and neglect," Pence stated in a written statement.

Indiana’s DCS been criticized for acting too slow to prevent child abuse or child deaths.

Indiana lawmakers have been trying to develop ways to improve the system. In Pence’s state of the state address last week, he says he will allocate an additional $35 million a year to the IDCS to help better investigate child abuse cases.

The department has been scrutinized over child-abuse deaths in recent years, including the case of Christian Choate of Northwest Indiana. The 13-year-old Choate had been abused and kept in a cage by his own parents which lead to his death but he wasn’t found until two years after his death.

His body was buried in a shallow grave in a mobile home park in Gary, Indiana in May 2011. His father, 40-year-old Riley Choate, was sentenced this month to 80 years in prison for his son’s death.

They boy’s step-mother, Kimberly Kubina, is scheduled to be sentenced in February for her connection to the case. Indiana State Rep. Linda Lawson, a Democrat from Hammond, lauds Bonaventura’s appointment.

“It is one of the best things that can happen to kids in the state of Indiana,” Lawson, a former Hammond police detective, said Wednesday. “She has got the right idea of what needs to happen. She is willing to take on parents. She’s willing to take on the system. She’s willing to take on attorneys, law enforcement. If it’s not right for kids. She really cares.”

In announcing the appointment, Pence said Lake County’s Juvenile Court system is one of the toughest ones in the state of Indiana.

In 2008, former Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Bonaventura as a member of the Indiana Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services.

In 2009, she was named Chair of the Civil Rights of Children Committee for the Indiana State Bar Association and the former Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Randall T. Shepard appointed Bonaventura as Chair of the Child Welfare Improvement Committee.

"She is a strong leader who has an impeccable reputation of integrity and compassion for children,” Pence added.

A native of East Chicago, Bonaventura is a life-long Lake County resident. She received her undergraduate degree from Marian University in Indianapolis and her law degree from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

In 2008, the Indiana Supreme Court allowed a documentary firm to video tape proceedings in Bonaventura’s courtroom. Previously, the Supreme Court had never allowed cameras in the courtroom. The result was a mini-reality series for MTV called “Juvies.”

MSNBC also airs a reality series featuring Bonaventura’s court called “Lake County Lockup.”

Court: Sex offender Facebook ban unconstitutional

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:12:00 -0600

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana law that bans registered sex offenders from using Facebook and other social networking sites that can be accessed by children is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago overturned a federal judge's decision upholding the law, saying the state was justified in trying to protect children but that the "blanket ban" went too far by restricting free speech.

The 2008 law "broadly prohibits substantial protected speech rather than specifically targeting the evil of improper communications to minors," the judges wrote.

"The goal of deterrence does not license the state to restrict far more speech than necessary to target the prospective harm," they said in a 20-page decision.

The judges noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has also struck down laws that restricted the constitutional right to freedom of expression, such as one that sought to ban leafleting on the premise that it would prevent the dropping of litter.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled in June that the state has a strong interest in protecting children and found that social networking had created a "virtual playground for sexual predators to lurk." She noted that everything else on the Internet remained open to those who have been convicted of sex offenses.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the class-action suit on behalf of a man who served three years for child exploitation and other sex offenders who are restricted by the ban even though they are no longer on probation.

Courts have long allowed states to place restrictions on convicted sex offenders who have completed their sentences, controlling where many live and work and requiring them to register with police. But the ACLU contended that even though the Indiana law is only intended to protect children from online sexual predators, social media websites are virtually indispensable. The group said the ban prevents sex offenders from using the websites for legitimate political, business and religious purposes.

The ACLU applauded the decision.

"Indiana already has a law on the books that prohibits inappropriate sexual contacts with children," including penalties for online activities, ACLU legal director Ken Falk said. "This law sought to criminalize completely innocent conduct that has nothing to do with children."

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said his office would review the ruling before deciding on the next step.

Federal judges have barred similar laws in Nebraska and Louisiana. Louisiana legislators passed a new, narrower law last year that requires sex offenders to identify themselves on Facebook and similar sites. A federal judge struck down part of Nebraska's law last October.

24K pounds of nickel stolen from Northern Indiana business

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:36:00 -0600

PORTAGE, Ind. — Northern Indiana police are looking for thieves who stole about 24,000 pounds of nickel from a business in Portage using a forklift and a truck.

The owner of ISA Sales and Service reported the theft to Portage police Saturday. The metal was worth about $225,000 and was stored in brick form in bags within padlocked shipping containers outside the business.

The Times of Munster reports surveillance cameras show a large box truck pulling up to the business Friday night and backing up to a loading dock. The footage shows two suspects entering the business and taking a forklift before the truck pulls away about an hour later.