Chicago Sun-Times

Editorial: State can be a leader in juvenile justice

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:00 -0500

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. But the court didn’t address two issues. What about juveniles who already had been sentenced to life without parole? And what about very long sentences, say for 100 years, that are effectively life sentences anyway? As Justice Samuel Alito said in a dissent, “Nothing in the court’s opinion affects the imposition of a sentence to a term of years without the possibility of parole.” The Illinois Legislature should settle those issues by enacting a law that gives the …

Editorial: Next U.S. Attorney is “natural leader”

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:23:07 -0500

For decades, one of the most important political jobs in Illinois has been held by a series of men most of us never heard of. These men, successive U.S. attorneys for the northern district of Illinois, have wielded considerable power to do good — to prosecute corrupt public officials, to go after the Outfit, to take down street gangs. And, thankfully, Illinois has largely been blessed by a steady stream of excellence in that office. Next up, if all goes as planned, is Zach Fardon. President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated the former federal prosecutor for the job. By all …

Editorial: Reject concealed gun bill

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:22:57 -0500

Does this sound like a good idea in a city struggling with gun violence: Wipe every anti-gun-violence law off the books, and make it impossible to write new ones? We don’t think so, which is why we shudder at the thought of the concealed-carry bill scheduled for a vote Friday in the Illinois House. The bill not only would allow concealed firearms to be carried throughout the state, but it also would overturn the assault-weapons ban in Chicago and Cook County, as well as other laws aimed at keeping guns out of criminals’ hands. In all, 109 home-rule governments would …

Editorial: Fighting crime the smart way

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:27:57 -0500

As recently as three years ago, more than 1,300 young people were locked up in juvenile prisons in Illinois, costing the state a small fortune, from $88,000 to $98,000 per inmate. Now, thanks in part to Redeploy Illinois, a program that has made it possible for counties to handle and treat nonviolent young offenders right in their communities, the state’s juvenile prison population has plummeted to about 850. Gov. Pat Quinn has been able to close two budget-busting juvenile prisons. Better yet, studies show that young offenders who fulfill the requirements of Redeploy programs are half as likely, compared to …

Editorial: Gaming Board must have authority over Chicago casino

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:25:55 -0500

Chicago would become the only city in the nation to own a casino under legislation now working its way through Springfield. That’s why it must be absolutely clear in the bill that the Illinois Gaming Board has just as much authority to regulate Chicago’s casino as it does those in private hands. The trap is always in the cards you don’t see. Gov. Pat Quinn worries that the bill, which has passed in the Senate, does not sufficiently spell out that the Gaming Board has ultimate authority over a newly formed Chicago Casino Development Authority. Conflicting language can lead to …

Editorial: Spare 21 of 54 schools facing ax

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:00:06 -0500

Fifty-four Chicago public schools are on the chopping block, to be consolidated with 55 other schools this summer. In total, the lives of 30,000 students will be changed forever if the board of education approves these closures on Wednesday. That’s a record number for the nation, as well as for a school system that, on a good day, barely manages to keep the lights on, the buses running and enough teachers in the classroom. If board members truly are listening, if they truly hear the voices that have pleaded for their schools over the last six months, they will spare …

Editorial: Judge should step aside

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:14:20 -0500

The writer Nelson Algren had a rule for life: Never make love to a woman whose troubles are greater than your own. Might we suggest a similar rule for criminal court judges: Never preside over a trial involving questions of ethical misbehavior when you yourself are burdened by questions of ethical misbehavior. In both situations, it’s a bad way to start. We had hoped McHenry County Judge Maureen P. McIntyre might voluntarily step aside last week in the manslaughter case of former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew, Richard J. Vanecko. We first called on McIntyre to do so back in …

Editorial: How to enjoy a drink without driving drunk

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:10:19 -0500

If you were a 120-pound woman and drank more than just a single beer within 90 minutes before hitting the road, would it be fair if the cops charged you with drunken driving? What if you were a 160-pound man and drank more than two beers? Should you be kept off the road? The feds say yes. The booze industry says no. We see a practical American middle ground. The National Transportation Safety Board last week called on all 50 states to lower the legal limit for driving from a 0.08 to 0.05 blood-alcohol content. Doing so, the NTSB said, …

Editorial: The hollow promise of a better school

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:39:28 -0500

In deciding whether to shutter Manierre Elementary School near the old Cabrini-Green housing project, the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools was given a long list of considerations she was allowed to take into account — or ignore. There is, for one, a multi-generational history of violence between families at Manierre and the school a few blocks to the south, Jenner, to which the Manierre students would be transferred. Test scores are low at both schools, both of which have high numbers of homeless students. Manierre actually outscores Jenner, but Jenner has stronger growth. Planned residential development is expected to …

Editorial: Questions galore on McCormick arena plan

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:25:12 -0500

Should Chicago do more to attract conventioneers and tourists? Sure. We see great promise in that. Is McCormick Place a notoriously cold space with a Goldilocks problem — sometimes too big or too small — that could use some warming up, beginning with a couple of hotels and some decent restaurants? You bet. Could Navy Pier be less cheesy? Oh, yes. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a big plan this week to upgrade McCormick Place and Navy Pier that, more than anything, leaves us scratching our heads. We’re not convinced that his big, new addition to McCormick Place — a …

Editorial: A fair draw on guns

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:33:23 -0500

No one is happy with a bill permitting the concealed carrying of weapons that passed out of the Illinois Senate Executive Committee Thursday by a 10-4-1 vote. But the bill — the result of a months-long effort by state Sen. Kwame Raoul to find a middle ground — is the best option on the table for resolving this issue. It could come to a vote as early as Friday in the Senate, and the vote is expected to be close. Illinois now is the only state without a ban on concealed carry, and last December a federal appeals court gave …

Editorial: Hazing doesn’t happen if adults do their jobs

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:23:54 -0500

Hazing in high school athletics, whether relatively minor or rising to the level of criminal assault, happens only when adults fail at their jobs. In a healthy culture of student sport, principals and coaches send a constant message that every athlete is to be treated with dignity and respect, from the longest bench-sitter to the biggest star. Behavior that falls short of that standard is spotted and dealt with — and nobody looks the other way. That didn’t happen at Maine West High School — this much is clear. Too many student athletes have told too many stories that reveal …

Editorial: CPS invited lawsuits

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:24:03 -0500

The vote to close 54 Chicago public schools hasn’t even happened yet and the first lawsuits already were filed in federal court on Wednesday. No surprise there. What is surprising is how willingly CPS invited these suits. For months, this page has argued that no school system, much less one with a history of dysfunction like Chicago, can pull off mass closures in such a short amount of time. We support closing under-used schools but have urged spreading the closures over two years. And since the schools to be closed were named in late March, we’ve advocated for sparing several …

Editorial: Angelina Jolie uses her celebrity to promote option of making informed choices

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:09:18 -0500

Is Angelina Jolie a hero? No. But she never set out to be one, which makes her choice to go public about double mastectomy in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday that much more admirable. Jolie, who revealed she underwent the preventive surgery this spring, did something much more profound than portraying herself as a woman who refused to be victimized by breast cancer. Instead, Jolie used her oversized celebrity to promote the notion of making an informed choice. The glamorous movie star and director also made it clear that her life and family were more important to her …

Editorial: Right call for the CTA’s Red Line

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:50:20 -0500

Back in the 1990s, all 20 miles of the Green Line were shut down for a year and four months of rehabilitation. That puts the upcoming five-month partial shutdown of the Red Line’s Dan Ryan branch into perspective. The work is scheduled to be finished Oct. 19, so no one who is accustomed to riding rapid transit will be waiting for a bus on harsh January mornings. There’s no doubt the South Side Red Line, which is more than 40 years old, needs to be fixed. Trains are slow, and rides are bumpy. But planners faced a tough choice: Do …

Editorial: Check out all abuse claims against one cop

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:17:09 -0500

In Brooklyn, the district attorney’s office has ordered that about 50 murder cases — all linked to one detective — be reviewed because of questions about the officer’s tactics. Cook County, which also has a number of controversial cases linked to a single detective, should order a similar review. Dozens of defendants and witnesses over the years have alleged that retired Area 5 Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara beat and threatened them into making false statements. That doesn’t mean the allegations are true. But there are enough complaints to make these cases ideal candidates for the state’s attorney’s Conviction Integrity …