NPR virtually uncut by federal budget. Now who wants to throw an expensive, lavish party?

NPR virtually uncut by federal budget. Now who wants to throw an expensive, lavish party?
NPR virtually uncut by federal budget. Now who wants to throw an expensive, lavish party?

NPR virtually uncut by federal budget. Now who wants to throw an expensive, lavish party?

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Who's up for a federally funded yacht party????

Top story: Today is a big one for Chicago politics. It’s the first City Council meeting since the April runoffs. So what’s on the agenda? Um…um…wait…um…nothin’? Affordable housing? No. Pushed off. Food trucks? No. That’s old. Cleaning horse urine? Already done. The only thing that really stands out is hyper-local. There is debate about a new development on the old Lincoln Park Hospital site (the hospital is closed). Alderman Vi Daley (outgoing) supports the development and newly-elected Michele Smith is against it. So Daley (Vi) is trying to push it through before Smith can start. Is that high drama enough for you? 

B story: Yo Rahm, I want to go to your inaugural jam! It sounds awesome! But I don’t have $50k right now. Is there a list?  Can I get on it, plus +3 (roommates)? What’s the dress code? Can I wear jeans? If Rahm were smart, his office would give away VIP tickets to radio stations to be given to the 90th caller. That would be so much better than tickets to a beach bash. I kind of know Eddie & Jobo, so I could help make that happen.

C story: Ah, we should have tried to shake down “Source Code” like Metra allegedly did. Maybe WBEZ wouldn’t have been cut from the movie.

D story: If you were wondering, NPR and public broadcasting were virtually uncut by the new federal budget. Shakespeare wrote a play about this, didn’t he? Something about nothing? Wait, maybe I’m thinking Seinfeld.

E story: Damn! We lost out on getting the space shuttle. Didn’t we learn anything from the 2016 Olympic bid? STOP LIVE BROADCASTING DISAPPOINTMENT! WE CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!! Adler Planetarium loses out, but they still have my son’s love, who asks me daily to go to the “pwanatarilium.” Because he saw the ad in the back of Time Out Kids. The Adler president was quoted as saying that the shuttle would been a “game changer.” Colleague Ed Keegan retweeted “If having a relic of 1970’s technology would be ‘a game changer,’ perhaps the Adler needs to reconsider their game.” SNAP.

Weather: Stay breezy, Chicago.

Sports: I’m starting to get ramped up for the Blackhawks game tonight. You realize the ‘Hawks have bounced the Vancouver Canucks from the playoffs two years in a row? To quote that wacky Beatle, “Keep playing those miiinnnnd gammmmes forever…

Sox fans got chippy last night. The Sox outfield has been dropping a ton of fly balls. Well, five. It’s really unheard of in baseball to have that happen. So last night, when Alex Rios caught a fly ball, the crowd sarcastically cheered. Ozzie didn’t like that.

And Derrick Rose is going to be the first Chicago Bull to grace the cover or Sports Illustrated since MJ. That seems historic, but, really, you have to be pretty damn good to be on the cover of SI, right? Here’s a funny story - one our national networks called our newsroom to help with an interview. When asked who the interview was with, the producer said it a guy named “Derrick Rose?” Wow! Then when our reporter pressed for more details, the producer said “Oh, sorry, the interview is with a Chicago reporter talking about Derrick Rose.” Oh. Never mind.

Kicker: Congrats to my former colleague Robert Feder for being one of the “100 Powerful Chicagoans” listed in Michigan Avenue Magazine!!!!! He is one of the only non-millionaires featured (it’s not online). They give him mad props for his role in exposing Trib management last year (on Vocalo blogs, thank you very much). I’m surprised, though, that such a high end, social magazine would be into Feder. Michigan Avenue magazine is about the finer things in life like fashion and jewelry. Not necessarily the Feder I know. But then I saw his picture. Man, he’s changed since he moved to Time Out Chicago: