1 A great escape
Jose Banks, the inmate who escaped from downtown federal lockup last year, explains how he did it in a well-written letter to the Sun-Times. Spoiler alert: It involved digging through his cell wall and rappelling down 17 stories. [Sun-Times]
2 Getting Moody
A new report by Moody’s Investor Service ranks Chicago first — or last — in its list of the largest local pension overhangs. The city’s pension liabilities amount to almost seven times its annual revenue. Happy Friday! [Bloomberg]
3 There’s an ‘i’ in pension
Under such monumental fiscal strain, are the city and its various contingents setting their individual interests to solve the problem together? Of course not. Mayor Emanuel’s plan to fix the crisis, which includes a hike in property taxes and delaying police and union concessions, is drawing fire from everyone who’s being asked to give up anything. According to one impartial observer, the mayor is picking the wrong option amid a “terrible set of choices.” [Sun-Times]
4 Itching for a fight
Today, the House Revenue Committee hears arguments on a bill that would force public corporations to disclose how much they pay in Illinois taxes, and Grid chatted with both supporters and opponents to tee up the fight. If you fell asleep while reading that sentence, accusations like “rape the economy” should wake you up. [Grid]
5 Police shooting in Pilsen
Police shot a woman in an alley in Pilsen last night. Authorities say that when they approached the woman, who was crouching behind a garbage can, she pointed what appeared to be a gun at police. A BB gun that resembled a handgun was recovered from the scene. [Sun-Times]
6 Bumming out
Feds have indicted nine alleged members of the Hobos, a violent gang with a name problem, on a host of charges that include racketeering, murder and robbery. Among the laundry list of accusations: relieving former NBA star Antoine Walker of a $55,000 watch in 2000. [Sun-Times]
7 Climate unchanged
Global warming: still real, and even more definitely our fault. That’s the conclusion that a panel of intergovernmental scientists reached, upgrading the probability that human activity is the “dominant cause” of global warming from 90 percent to 95 percent. [Tribune]
8 Different thinking
Two Chicago-based finance professors polled economists across the country and compared their answers with the rest of ours. The results are surprising: Twice as many economists think the stimulus lowered unemployment, and 11 times as many own an abacus. Only one of those is true. [FT] (registration required)
