WBEZ | New York

Synth band Nova Social will take you to The Delano

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 09:06:00 -0500

I'll probably get in trouble for calling New York City's Nova Social a synth band. But I was never that good at describing music.

What I can say is that the band, fronted by David Nagler, takes me back to the 1980s (without wallowing in nostalgia) and the songs hypnotize me. Check out the performance below from last month's Interview Show in Brooklyn.

And if you live in NYC or know someone there, the band plays Joe's Pub on Wednesday, June 20, at 7:30 p.m.

A tour of Dawoud Bey's 'Harlem, USA'

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:10:00 -0500

I recently interviewed Dawoud Bey about Harlem, USA, his '70s era photo essay of the New York community.

After our interview we toured the exhibit - which was still being installed - and he shared how, as a novice photographer, he went about photographing people in the community.

For more contemporary Bey, be sure to attend his show Picturing People, which opens May 13 at The Renaissance Society in Hyde Park.

FBI declined to pursue New York bomb plot

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:57:00 -0600

NEW YORK — U.S. authorities declined to pursue a case against an "al Qaeda sympathizer" accused of plotting to bomb police stations and post offices in the New York area because they believed he was mentally unstable and incapable of pulling it off, two law enforcement officials said Monday.

New York Police Department investigators sought to get the FBI involved at least twice as their undercover investigation of Jose Pimentel unfolded, the officials said. Both times, the FBI concluded that he wasn't a serious threat, they said.

The FBI concluded that the 27-year-old Pimentel "didn't have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own," one of the officials said.

The officials were not authorized to speak about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. The FBI's New York office declined to comment Monday.

New York authorities said Pimentel is an "alQaeda sympathizer" motivated by terrorist propaganda and resentment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said police had to move quickly to arrest Pimentel on Saturday because he was ready to carry out his plan.

"He was in fact putting this bomb together," Kelly said. "He was drilling holes and it would have been not appropriate for us to let him walk out the door with that bomb."

His lawyer Joseph Zablocki said his client's behavior leading up to the arrest was not that of a conspirator trying to conceal some violent scheme. Zablocki said Pimentel was public about his activities and was not trying to hide anything.

"I don't believe that this case is nearly as strong as the people believe," Zablocki said. "He (Pimentel) has this very public online profile. ... This is not the way you go about committing a terrorist attack."

Authorities characterized him in a different way. The unemployed U.S. citizen was born in the Dominican Republic and later converted to Islam. They said he was energized and motivated to carry out his plan by the Sept. 30 killing of al Qaeda's U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

"He decided to build the bomb August of this year, but clearly he jacked up his speed after the elimination of al-Awlaki," Kelly said.

He plotted to bomb police patrol cars and postal facilities, targeted soldiers returning home from abroad, and also talked of bombing a police station in New Jersey, authorizes said.

New York police had him under surveillance for at least a year and were working with a confidential informant; no injury to anyone or damage to property is suspected, Kelly said. In addition, authorities have no evidence that Pimentel was working with anyone else.

"He appears to be a total lone wolf," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He was not part of a larger conspiracy emanating from abroad."

Pimentel, also known as Muhammad Yusuf, was denied bail. The bearded, bespectacled man smiled at times during the proceeding. His mother and brother attended the arraignment, his lawyer said.

Pimentel was accused of having an explosive device Saturday when he was arrested, one he planned to use against others and property. The charges accuse him of conspiracy going back at least to October 2010 and include first-degree criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism, and soliciting support for a terrorist act.

Kelly said a confidential informant had numerous conversations with Pimentel on Sept. 7 in which he expressed interest in building small bombs and targeting banks, government and police buildings.

Pimentel also posted on his website trueislam1.com and on blogs his support of al Qaeda and belief in jihad, and promoted an online magazine article that described in detail how to make a bomb, Kelly said.

Among his Internet postings, the commissioner said, was an article that states: "People have to understand that America and its allies are all legitimate targets in warfare."

New York City remains a prime terrorist target a decade after the Sept. 11 attack. Bloomberg said there have been at least 14 foiled plots against the city, including the latest suspected scheme. The most serious threats came from Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad who tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in 2010 and is now serving a life sentence, and Najibullah Zazi, who targeted the subway system a year earlier. Zazi pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Asked why federal authorities were not involved in the case, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said there was communication with them but his office felt that given the timeline "it was appropriate to proceed under state charges."

Alexis Smith, 22, who lives in an apartment in the same building as Pimentel, said she was shocked that he was a suspect in a terrorist plot. "He was always very courteous to us," she said, adding that Pimentel helped her carry groceries and luggage into the building.

"It's nice to know he was only working alone," she said.

Cleanup begins in wake of Irene

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:55:00 -0500

Irene is gone but the trouble it started isn't finished by a long-shot. It could be days or even weeks before some of the millions
without electricity get it back. Airlines will be busy untangling masses of stranded passengers delayed by canceled flights. And some rivers in New York and New England pose potentially major flood threats today.

And then there's the damage. It hasn't been tallied up yet but one private estimate is up to $7 billion.

Flooding is widespread in Vermont and the Mohawk River is over its banks in parts of New York. Officials say they may be seeing
500-year flood conditions on the Mohawk. New York City's three main airports will be reopening today as will part of the subway system. Commuters have been warned of long lines and waits.

Airports in Philadelphia and Washington are open and Boston's transit system is reopening. So are Atlantic City casinos.

Aviation officials in Chicago say almost 400 flights have been canceled at both of Chicago's airports because of Tropical
Storm Irene. Airlines canceled more than 300 flights at O'Hare International Airport and around 70 at Midway International Airport on Sunday.

Chicago's Department of Aviation says most of the cancellations are due to East Coast weather conditions. There aren't any delays. More than 11,500 flights have been canceled nationwide.

Weather officials downgraded Irene from a hurricane to a tropical storm Sunday as the storm's winds lost speed. As a hurricane, Irene had already unloaded more than a foot of water on North Carolina, spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and left 4 million homes and businesses without power. At least 18 people died in the storm.

Meantime, New York City subway service is back on track for the morning rush. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said limited service resumed at 5:40 a.m. Monday. It said service remains suspended on Metro-North Railroad because of heavy damage from Tropical Storm Irene. Metro-North serves regions north of New York City, from Westchester County to southern Connecticut.

The MTA's decision Saturday to halt all subways, buses and commuter trains in preparation for the storm had threatened to disrupt the start of the work week for millions of New Yorkers. It was the first time a natural disaster ever shut the system down.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is making no apologies for ordering hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate for a hurricane that ended up doing relatively little damage in New York. Bloomberg said he was unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker in the face of Hurricane Irene. He spent days urging people to get out of harm's way and to prepare for storm. Irene caused some flooding and other problems in New York but no deaths or injuries.

The mayor said he's not sure whether it's the city's preparations or luck that prevented the toll from being worse. But he said he would make the same decisions again.

Quinn hits back against immigration checks

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:06:00 -0500

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is trying to throw another wrench into a key immigration-enforcement program of President Obama’s administration, saying it ensnares too many people and erodes trust in local police.

An August 18 letter from the governor’s office to John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, hints about a possible legal challenge and asks the federal agency to contact all 26 Illinois counties that have agreed to participate in the program, called Secure Communities, to confirm they still want to take part.

“This is the least that ICE can do,” says the letter, signed by John Schomberg, Quinn’s general counsel. “These counties signed up, along with the state, for a Secure Communities that is far different from the program” ICE first presented.

The Obama administration says the program helps focus immigration enforcement on repeat immigration violators and dangerous criminals, such as murderers and kidnappers.

ICE reports that Secure Communities has led to the deportation of more than 86,000 convicted criminals. Data from the agency show that about half of those immigrants were convicted of misdemeanors, not felonies.

The program has led to the deportation of another 34,000 people not convicted of any crime. Voicing concerns about them, Quinn withdrew Illinois from Secure Communities in May. New York and Massachusetts followed with similar steps.

But an August 5 letter from Morton to governors says states no longer have any choice and that Secure Communities will extend to all local law-enforcement jurisdictions in the United States by 2013. An addendum to the letter describes changes in the program. Those include the elimination of a state role in conveying data for the fingerprints.

"These counties signed up, along with the state, for a Secure Communities that is far different from the program"

--John Schomberg, Quinn’s general counsel

Mark Fleming, an attorney with the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, says ICE could end up in court if Secure Communities lacks the consent of the local jurisdictions. “The governor’s office may be laying the groundwork for a legal challenge,” Fleming says.

Fleming points to 1990s rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court affirming that the 10th Amendment bars Congress from compelling state and local governments to administer federal regulations.

Asked whether Illinois officials are cooking up a lawsuit, a Quinn spokeswoman refers to Schomberg’s letter, which says the governor’s office “will continue to monitor and evaluate” Secure Communities and “consider all of the state’s options.”

ICE representatives did not respond to WBEZ requests for comment on whether Secure Communities violates the 10th Amendment.

The Obama administration lately has downplayed agreements through which it first brought state and local governments into the federal initiative. “We wanted to work with the locals and let them know about the program,” says Jon Gurule, an ICE official who helped set up Secure Communities.

“But, from the operational side, it’s federal information sharing between two federal agencies,” Gurule adds, referring to ICE and the FBI. “And it’s congressionally mandated.”

If ICE checks in with the Illinois counties, as the Illinois letter asks, the federal agency would find some with second thoughts about joining Secure Communities. “If they honor the governor’s request, I would not want to partake in it,” says Patrick Perez, sheriff of west suburban Kane County, part of the program since 2009.

“The program has not turned out to be what it was supposed to be,” Perez says, pointing to the deportation of non-criminals. “People in the Hispanic community have become very reticent to contact police if they’re victims of crime because they’re fearful that . . . they will be deported.”

The federal initiative also has defenders. “My life has been destroyed by all of this cheap, foreign scab labor,” says a 56-year-old network engineer in Chicago, blaming immigrants for his unemployment and asking that his name not be published because he’s job hunting. “Whether it’s illegal aliens or foreign legal workers, they’re hurting American citizens.”

“Secure Communities removes the criminals,” he says, “and that’s a start.”

Rahm vows bus rapid transit, but can he deliver?

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:49:00 -0500

All this week, WBEZ is looking at Rahm Emanuel’s first 100 days as Chicago mayor.

One of Emanuel’s pledges is to push for the creation of the city’s first bus-rapid-transit line. The idea behind BRT is to deliver the benefits of rail at a fraction of the cost. BRT shortens travel times through dedicated bus lanes, pre-paid boarding that’s level with station platforms, and traffic signals that favor the buses.

WBEZ’s West Side bureau reporter Chip Mitchell gives us a progress report on Emanuel’s ambitious plan.

Young New Yorkers living in Chicago reflect on bin Laden's death

Thu, 05 May 2011 13:34:00 -0500

On Thursday, President Barack Obama laid a wreath at Ground Zero, to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Less than a week after the death of Osama bin Laden, many consider this a moment of closure. We’ve heard from pundits, politicians and everyday citizens. But one group that got a little lost in the shuffle are the folks who were children in September 2001. Almost ten years later, those individuals are now adults.

Many young New Yorkers have made their homes far from downtown Manhattan, including here in Chicago. WBEZ intern Kate Dries is one of them. She told Eight Forty-Eight her story and the stories of four others who were affected by the events of September 11:

When the first tower fell, my mother yelled “Run!” and we did just that for several blocks. A low, deep rumbling noise filled the air. I do not remember the dust, only the feeling that I was going to die, at that very moment.

On September 11, 2001, I was twelve years old.

I walked with my mother and younger sister across downtown Manhattan, away from the site. People around us also wandered, all attempting to get somewhere, but without any real understanding of where that place was.

My family ended up at a friend’s apartment in SoHo. We stayed there for two weeks until returning to our home downtown.

It would be five months until I returned to my middle school.

But like the death of someone you love, 9/11 has never left my consciousness; it is always there, lurking in the background.

So on Sunday night, when the news of Osama Bin Laden popped up on my TV, it forced the memories of that day back into the forefront of my mind.

I’ve been living in Chicago for the past five years. Because I do not live in New York anymore, the place where Bin Laden did so much damage seems very far away.

And the news of his death doesn’t mean anything to me.

9/11 isn’t about terrorism when you are twelve years old. You are old enough to know what was going on, but young enough to not really understand the magnitude of the event.

Much like those who have experienced natural disasters like tornadoes or tsunamis, the meaning is in the simple things – your home, your bed, your school are all different. And all you want is for life to go back to the way it used to be.

Many young New Yorkers shared my experience; some are now living in Chicago.

Adit Tata was just starting his fourth day of high school on September 11^th, at Stuyvesant High, mere blocks from the World Trade Towers. In the months to come, Stuyvesant would act as a staging area for relief efforts aiding Ground Zero. He is now living in Hyde Park.

Jaime Lyn Beatty was in 8^th grade at Baruch Middle School on East 23^rd Street in Manhattan. She’s now an actress living in Lakeview.

Across the river, Catherine Lee was a 7^th grader living in Brooklyn.

Dove Barbanel was eight years old on 9/11. He’s now a freshman at U of C, and would have liked to have been home on Sunday.

The voices of the families of the victims who died on September 11^th, are all well-documented, as they should be.

But as a young person who lived hyper-local through this international tragedy, 9/11 is the defining moment of my life.

Osama bin Laden’s death brings 9/11 back to the national consciousness, but for me and a young generation of New Yorkers, it never left.

Peter Sagal to host the Moth GrandSLAM

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:52:00 -0600

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me's Peter Sagal is teaming up with our friends at The Moth to host the first-ever Chicago Moth GrandSLAM event. According to The Moth's Sarah Austin Jeness, the GrandSLAM will take place on Wednesday, January 26th at the Park West in Chicago's Lincoln Park.

"I'm a great enthusiast for telling stories, as my exhausted and bored friends and colleagues know, so I'm happy to see anecdote-spinning become a competitive event," Sagal told us. "By supporting the Moth, I'm hoping that anecdotage might someday become an Olympic sport."

The GrandSLAM pits the winners of the previous 10 Chicago Moth StorySLAMS against each other to decide who's the 'best-of-the-best'. The winner gets a shot at The Moth mainstage in New York.

The Moth was founded New York in 1997 and features real-life, first person stories told before a live audience. Since it's debut, The Moth has achieved popular and critical acclaim in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit . More recently, it's podcasts have become a huge hit on iTunes and spawned a series of new public radio specials via PRX.

The Moth launched Chicago StorySLAMS in collaboration with WBEZ in late 2009. They take place on the last Tuesday of every month at Martyr's.

Each StorySLAM features a theme. Aspiring storytellers put their name in a hat, hoping to be picked to tell their story before the live audience. A three-member panel of audience-member judges then decides the winner.

Doors open for the The Moth GrandSLAM in Chicago at 6pm and stories start at 8pm. The event is ticketed - not first come, first serve. Details can be found at www.etix.com.

Parole hearing goes poorly for Puerto Rican nationalist

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:28:00 -0600

A parole hearing did not go well for a Chicagoan that Puerto Rican nationalists call a patriot.

The prisoner, Oscar López Rivera, has served more than 29 years on a conviction of seditious conspiracy. Federal authorities accused him of leading a Puerto Rican independence group, the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), that set off dozens of bombs, many in Chicago.

On Wednesday, a U.S. Parole Commission examiner visited a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., where López Rivera is serving his sentence. The examiner heard from the inmate and some victims of a deadly 1975 blast for which the FALN claimed responsibility.

In the end, the examiner said he’d recommend at least another 12 years for the prisoner, according to his attorney, Jan Susler of Chicago.

“It was shameful,” Susler said on her way home from the prison. “The Parole Commission had no business allowing these people to attend or to attempt to influence the decision.”

Susler points out that López Rivera was convicted of seditious conspiracy, not a particular attack. She claims he had nothing to do with the 1975 bombing.

Johanna Markind, assistant general counsel for the commission, said the parole recommendation will go to an executive reviewer and, eventually, a four-member board that heads the commission. She said a final decision could take months.

Puerto Rican nationalist to argue for parole

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:35:00 -0600

A former Chicagoan that some Puerto Ricans call a political prisoner will make his case to walk free.

A U.S. Parole Commission examiner is set to hear arguments Wednesday morning from Oscar López Rivera at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., according to Johanna Markind, assistant general counsel for the commission.

López Rivera, 67, is the last imprisoned Puerto Rican independence advocate among more than a dozen convicted in the 1980s of seditious conspiracy. Authorities accused him of leading the FALN, the Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation.

The group emerged in 1974 and claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings, mostly in the New York and Chicago areas. The assaults killed at least five people and injured more than 70 others.

But authorities didn’t charge the Puerto Ricans with killing or injuring anyone. So, according to López Rivera’s supporters, it would be wrong to keep him locked up.

“You have murderers and rapists freed after 10 to 12 years,” said Chicago activist Alejandro Luis Molina, a leader of a campaign urging parole. “On the other hand, you have Oscar López Rivera, who was not convicted of shedding one drop of human blood, serving a 70-year sentence. And he’s in his 30th year of incarceration.”

But some victims of FALN attacks want him to serve out the term. “Oscar López is a sworn terrorist; unrepentant and dangerous,” wrote Joseph F. Connor, whose father died in a 1975 bombing of a New York City tavern. “He has done nothing to assist the U.S. government or its citizens to resolve unsolved FALN crimes.”

López Rivera was sentenced to 55 years after a 1981 conviction of seditious conspiracy, weapons violations and other charges. In 1988, he received an additional 15 years for conspiring to escape prison. His attorney, Jan Susler of Chicago, said this week the charge resulted from a sting operation.

In 1999, President Clinton offered clemency to most of the imprisoned Puerto Ricans. López Rivera declined the offer, partly because it excluded his comrade Carlos Alberto Torres, said Susler, who represents both men.

A campaign for Torres’s parole led to his release from a downstate Illinois prison last July. After more than 30 years behind bars, Torres returned to a hero’s homecoming in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood before settling in Puerto Rico.

López Rivera, a Vietnam veteran, turns 68 on Thursday. His Chicago relatives include a younger brother, José López, who directs the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, an influential Humboldt Park group. López Rivera would settle in Puerto Rico if he received parole, his supporters say.

Markind said the case’s examiner will also hear Wednesday from some victims of the bombings. Opponents of López Rivera’s parole bid have “inundated” the commission with calls in recent days, she added.

Meanwhile, Markind said, the commission has received more than three large boxes of letters urging parole.

The commission, a Department of Justice unit based in Maryland, is led by a four-member board appointed by the president. Markind said it could take months for the commission to decide López’s fate.