Demonstrators rally for a higher minimum wage in New York this past December. | Richard Drew/AP Photo
Minimum wage in center stage
Democrats are poised to make raising the minimum wage a focal point of the 2014 midterms, and Illinois’ Republican candidates are more than happy to jump into the fray. It began with Republican Bruce Rauner calling for a $1 cut to the state’s minimum wage – direct opposition to Gov. Pat Quinn’s push to raise it to $10/hour. Before the end of the day, both Bill Brady and Karen Lewis weighed in.
[Rauner: Cut state’s hourly minimum wage by $1 to be ‘competitive’]
[Brady hammers Rauner, Quinn for wanting to change state’s minimum wage]
[Karen Lewis: Try to live on $7.25 a day for 90 days]
City to lease space to Hadiya Pendleton Foundation for $1
Hadiya Pendleton’s father got a gift from City Hall on Wednesday, three weeks before the one-year anniversary of the 15-year-old’s murder. [Sun-Times]
Alderman: Homicide drop ‘means crap’
Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) isn’t a big fan of the statistics showing a drop in homicides. [Voices]
Cabbie business booming
Chiberia was a terrible time for all of us, unless you drive a cab. [DNAinfo Chicago]
Rise and fall of UNO’s patron
One man turned a small activist group into the nation’s biggest Hispanic charter school operator. And then the trouble started. [Chicago Magazine]
Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux in the Hall of Fame
Two iconic Chicago baseball legends were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. [Thomas | Maddux]
Dennis Rodman serenades Kim Jong-un
Just watch the video. [Sun-Times]
The force was allegedly with Tupac
A longstanding rumor about Tupac Shakur auditioning for the Star Wars prequels got new life this week. [A.V. Club]
Insane Clown Posse, ACLU team up
The two groups have filed a lawsuit after the FBI included Juggalos in its 2011 Gang Threat Assessment Report. [Chicagoist]
The Bright One
A demolition worker found what appeared to be a human skull in Logan Square. Turns out it was a Halloween decoration. [Sun-Times]
Commute
Sudoku; Weather; Traffic; CTA; Metra; Flight delays
And finally
This adorable panda cub taking its first steps, though. [Youtube]
