Safeway closed Dominick's leaves community hungry for a year

This one is one of our hardest stories.
A year ago Safeway announced that they are closing all the Dominick's stores.  With most of the old chain bought up by Mariano's and Jewel the chain puts hard wrench in the deal breaker at 7 1st and Jeffery. Whats on the sarges mind has had the opportunity to eat at Seashell and New China Express and Jeffery Sub. It is sad when we talk to residents that the politicians don't back and push hard on Safeway as all they are looking at is money as people walk or use public transportation to go elsewhere or even out of the city to get what they want. As a reporter for W.O.T.S.M.  I decided to come enjoy a nice meal at Seashell and speak with community leaders who are outraged at the politics at hand. Safeway put a lot of people out of work and then refuse to give up the empty space, which is now starving and depriving the community from groceries.  We dug in deeper and found the following article.

The owner of Jeffery Plaza said it has found a tenant for the vacant Dominick’s in South Shore.

Shervin Mateen, the owner of the shopping center at 71st Street and Jeffery Boulevard, said a deal is close to being finalized with Pueblo Supermarkets of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to fill the space Dominick’s left vacant on Dec. 28.

“It’s at the signature stage right now,” Mateen said, adding that the lease was already prepared for the store to reopen in May when the former Dominick’s lease ends.

He said the new grocer would not pursue any of the tax benefits the city has offered as incentives to get a grocer into the space.

But Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said she was skeptical that the deal was as far along as Mateen claimed.

She met with the Jeffery Plaza owners on Friday, she said, and at at the time they did not mention Pueblo Supermarkets, which she said had a questionable record.

Hairston pointed to a 2010 report in the Virgin Island Daily News about the Pueblo owner, Chicago resident Ahmad Al Khatib, who prosecutors accused of  stealing $1.3 million worth of electricity for his four Virgin Island stores. Under a plea deal, Al Khatib pleaded no contest to tampering and illegal use of utility equipment and agreed to pay a $12,000 fine and provide additional community services, according to the newspaper.

A lawyer for Al Khatib could not be reached for comment.

Mateen said he was unaware of the case.

A representative for Mateen made the announcement during the public comment section of a meeting of the Chicago Community Development Commission, which was debating whether to give the city authority to acquire the South Shore property through eminent domain or other means.

The commission voted in favor of granting the city the authority to acquire the property, sending the measure to the City Council.

Mateen predicted the city would back down on eminent domain.

"This is not going anywhere, we are going to be the owners," Mateen said.

So what is the Alderman trying to do for her constituents. It appears nothing other wise the space would not have been empty for an entire year. Guess the politics also care about money in their pockets too.

Government Releases Obama’s Real Birth Certificate

According to reports, the Office of the Principal Register of the Nyanza Province in Kenya has just released 11 documents concerning Barack Obama’s birth and early childhood in the country. The papers have been requested by  Americans for years, but the Kenyan Supreme Court finally just ordered authorities to release the documents based on a law on “access to information.”
The papers indicate that Obama was actually born in Lamu, Kenya. They could prove that Obama had no legal right to become the American president in the first place. It also means that the American papers we’ve seen are all forged documents.

26 year old shoots her self after car crash

ST.LOUIS — A woman appears to have accidentally fatally shot herself in the head with a gun bought to prepare for possible Ferguson-related unrest, according to sources briefed on the police investigation.

The shooting occurred Friday night in downtown St. Louis, the city’s Metropolitan Police Department said, in an area dominated by vacant lots beside a football stadium.

The female victim, identified in a police report as Becca Campbell, 26, was a passenger in a car involved in an auto accident. Her 33-year-old boyfriend was driving, the sources told CNN.

The boyfriend, who wasn’t identified, told police that the couple had bought a gun because of fears of unrest related to the pending grand jury decision on the shooting of Michael Brown, the sources said.

He told investigators that as they drove late Friday night, the victim waved a gun, jokingly saying the couple were ready for Ferguson, the sources said.

He ducked to get out of the way of the gun and accidentally rear-ended another car. He said the accident caused the gun to go off and she was struck by a bullet in the head, the sources said.

The victim was rushed to a hospital but died.

The investigation is continuing because police want to be sure the story as told by the boyfriend is correct, the sources said. Police are awaiting gun trace results, as part of the ongoing investigation.

Wildabeast could have gone home In body bag but this New York man couldn't carry because of illinois concealed carry laws suck

A 36-year-old New York man was robbed at gunpoint Friday night while taking photographs at Buckingham Fountain, police said.

The victim, who police said was from Yorktown Heights, an area about 35 miles north of New York City, was taking pictures around the fountain in the 500 block of South Columbus Drive about 8 p.m. Friday when a man approached and began asking him questions, police said.

After that man walked away, two other men in their early 20s walked up the footpath toward the 36-year-old and one, brandishing a handgun, ordered him to “give it up,’’ according to a police report.

The victim gave them a camera he said was worth $5,000, his iPhone and wallet, and the two robbers fled south.

The victim walked back to his hotel in the 600 block of South Michigan Avenue and called police. Police tried to locate his cellphone by using a tracking application on his phone, but the robbers had turned it off.

The two robbers are described as being in their 20s, dressed in black jackets with gray hoodies underneath that were “tightened’’ to conceal their faces, and dark pants, police said.

17 year old ape drives in to a house while the 18 year old chimp eats a bandana

Two Chicago teens were charged Friday in a high-speed chase that ended with a stolen vehicle crashing into the living room of a home in south suburban Alsip.

Officers said the two teens stole a vehicle Wednesday near 63rd Street and Ashland Avenue in Chicago. They then drove to the BP Earth Market located at 12230 S. Cicero Ave, where they were involved in a retail theft about 5:30 a.m., according to an Alsip Police Department news release.

Soon after the theft, an Alsip officer saw a red Ford sport utility vehicle traveling west on 122nd Street at a high rate of speed without any headlights, the news release said.

The SUV proceeded northbound on Laramie Avenue and the officer then made a U-turn to try and find the vehicle. The officer located the vehicle westbound on 121st Place, where it hit a residence while attempting to make a turn onto northbound Lockwood Avenue at a high rate of speed, the release said.

"Scary, just scary," Sheila McDermott, who owns the home, told WGN-TV on Wednesday. "At least no one was hurt. That's all we can say."

The SUV crashed into McDermott's home in the 12100 block of South Lockwood. The 17-year-old driver and an 18-year-old passenger fled but were apprehended a short time later.

No one in the home was injured. An Alsip police officer was treated at Metro South Hospital for a minor knee injury suffered during the foot pursuit and released.

Daniel Carr, 18, of the 7300 block of South Maryland Avenue, was charged with two counts of burglary to a vehicle, possession of burglary tools and retail theft. The 17-year-old driver was charged as a juvenile with reckless driving, according to the release.

Black Panther turned politician is under federal probe

The House Ethics Committee on Monday announced it is probing whether Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., improperly received free rent for a South Side office in violation of state and federal laws and House rules and standards of conduct, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
The panel released a report from the Office of Congressional Ethics which concluded there were potentially violations stemming from a lack of rental payments for the South Side office going back decades, amounting to $365,040 for about 20 years.
The OCE, in forwarding its investigative report to the House ethics panel in June, said there was "substantial reason" to believe the free rent amounted to in-kind contributions that violated House rules as well as state and federal laws. The committee decided to take up the Rush matter on July 25. The OCE is an independent, non-partisan organization which reviews allegations of misconduct against House members. The OCE has no power to sanction a member and after its investigation refers the matter to the House Committee on Ethics, which then continues with its own probe.
Last December, a Chicago Sun-Times/Better Government Association probe of Rush by Chuck Neubauer and Sandy Bergo reported that Rush had little to show for a $1 million grant Rush secured from SBC (later rebranded as AT&T) for a nonprofit he founded in Englewood. Neubauer and Bergo also reported that Rush, who is a minister, used money from his campaign fund for his Beloved Community Christian Church and has not reported paying rent for his campaign office, a potential violation of House ethics rules. Rush told the Sun-Times earlier this year he believes the probe stems from these stories.
Rush's attorney, in a reply to the probe also made public on Monday, said the value of the free rent was overstated because the space was barely used, the furniture and equipment on the premises were "limited to junk items" and the space itself was of limited commercial value. Rush also offered to return the keys to the office.
"The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee," the committee said in a statement.
The Office of Congressional Ethics concluded in its report, released to the public on Monday, that Rush may not have paid rent for an office at 3361 S. Martin Luther King Drive, unit C-6, which he has used since 1989. At issue is unpaid rent from 1993 to 2013. Before that, the rent was paid by the City of Chicago when Rush used it as an aldermanic office.
From the OCE report: "He has been a tenant there in roles as a city Alderman, Cook County Ward Committeeman, State Committeeman, and a congressional candidate.In only one of those roles, as a city Alderman, did Representative Rush occupy the office space in an official capacity and pay for its use under terms of a valid lease. Since 1993,Representative Rush has used the office space in varying political capacities and has never paid rent to the landlord, an Illinois limited partnership. The landlord has sought to lease the space to a rent-paying tenant in the past, viewing the space with some degree of value while accounting each year for the amount of rent that should have been paid.
.. The Board recommends that the Committee further review the above allegation concerning Representative Rush's office rental space because there is a substantial reason to believe that Representative Rush's state and federal campaign committees accepted inkind contributions in violation of Illinois state law, federal law, and House rules. ..Representative Rush continued receiving the free office space in violation of the lease terms, while other tenants of the landlord were not given the same special favors."
Rush, first elected to Congress in 1992, won another term last Tuesday, running against nominal opposition. He turns 68 on Nov. 23.

Pelosi serves at the Democrats pleasure

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is tired of being asked when she’ll step aside as Democratic leader, suggesting sexism is at play with such queries.

“When was the day that any of you said to Mitch McConnell when they lost the Senate three times in a row … ‘Aren’t you getting a little old, Mitch? Shouldn’t you step aside?’ ” Pelosi said Thursday to reporters at her weekly briefing. “It is just interesting as a woman how many times that question is asked of a woman and how many times that question is never asked of Mitch McConnell.”

Pelosi, the first woman to serve as House speaker when Democrats were in charge, is expected to once again be chosen as minority leader when her party holds leadership elections next week. She faces no opposition for the post. McConnell was officially chosen Senate majority leader Thursday by the GOP conference, by virtue of the Republican election victories last week. She is 74 years old; he is 72.

Pelosi told reporters that she serves at the pleasure of House Democrats. “I’m here as long as my members want me to be here, as long as there’s a reason to be here,” the California Democrat said. “I’m not here on a schedule.”

It’s not the first time Pelosi has been asked the question about her tenure in House leadership. She criticized NBC’s Luke Russert in 2012 when he specifically asked whether, by remaining in leadership, she prevents Democrats from having “younger leadership.” He noted that Pelosi, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Assistant Democratic leader James Clyburn are all in their 70s.