Chicago Daily Observer

The local real estate market has been quiet as of late. The long term affects of the home mortgage crisis have reduced the number of sales in recent months. Imagine, everyone applying for a mortgage needs to have a complete and thorough credit check performed and the property must be appraised by a qualified professional before any funds can be loaned. A few months ago, before the real estate bubble burst,loan officers were handing out money left and right with little or no questioning whatsoever. Borrowers did not even have to establish that they were legal residents of the USA to qualify for loans.

Ah, well, those palmy, balmy days of the real estate speculation land rush are now a distant memory. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is prepared to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted from its stall. Madigan will be joining other legal officers ... Read More...

Chicago is a big city that often seems like a small one, especially when you realize how many of its powerful political and business interests intertwine. The relationship between the city government and the Illinois Restaurant Association, the nonprofit organization that helps run the Taste of Chicago, is yet another example.

Just as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, so, too, does the perception of political power depend on the eyesight of the viewer.
Most Chicagoans, as well as national observers, perceive Mayor Richard M. Daley at the pinnacle of his power, untouched by a profusion of political scandals, creator of a glorious City on a Hill, and a beloved and benevolent dictator who will reign forevermore.
But aldermen, especially from the northwest side, have a starkly different perspective – namely: that King Richard’s days are numbered, that he may yet be indicted, that he may not run for re-election in 2011, that he may not win if he runs, and/or that, if he wins in 2011, he’ll certainly retire by 2015.
Citizens look as far ahead as next week. Politicians look to the next election, and beyond, and their conclusion is clear: Being a Daley ... Read More...

I see Smooth Stephen Kinzer is letting his activism get the better of him and intends to testify, and not under subpoena, to Chicago’s aldermen as an instrument of Joe Moore’s foreign-policy leftism. It’s official then, he’s no longer a reporter but a man whose biases — ahem, his conclusions based on extensive research — have got the better of him.