"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

Preckwinkle considering $800 tax on gaming machines

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 03:16 PM PDT

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is considering an $800 tax on every slot machine and video poker game in the county as she puts the final touches on the budget proposal she will present Thursday, aides said.

Stevens' dad: Politicizing death would be 'abhorrent'

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:22 PM PDT

Christopher Stevens' Dad: Politicizing Son's Death Would Be 'Abhorrent'Christopher Stevens' father would really like it if everyone stopped trying to turn his son's death into a political issue. Speaking with Bloomberg News' Margaret Talev, Jan Stevens said it would be, "abhorrent" to turn his son's death into a campaign issue. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has faced criticism for politicizing the event from Democrats over comments he made the day after the consulate attacks. ...

Stephen Colbert steps out of character to assess Romney

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:49 PM PDT

Stephen Colbert--both the faux conservative talk show host and the man himself--sat down for an interview with NBC's David Gregory that aired on Sunday's "Meet The Press." Colbert, the character, was asked who he thinks has the edge in the 2012 presidential race. "Romney, obviously," he said. "Did you see him the other night? That [...]

Putin loyalists likely to win Russia local votes

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:55 PM PDT

Opposition activist Yevgenia Chirikova, left, speaks to Khimki acting mayor Oleg Shakhov at a polling station in the town of Khimki, outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. Chirikova who played a major role in the massive winter protests against Putin's rule, is challenging the incumbent mayor. She has complained of an uneven playing field, saying authorities tried to thwart her meetings with voters and put up other obstacles. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)President Vladimir Putin's loyalists appeared likely Sunday to retain their hold in thousands of local elections that offered slightly more room for competition, but were marred by opposition claims of widespread vote fraud.

Lonely, hard work on oil rigs, but salaries soaring

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:09 PM PDT

Roberts, operations manager of S.D. Standard Drilling Plc., poses for photo on an oil drilling rig being built at the Keppel FELS shipyard in SingaporeSINGAPORE (Reuters) - What jobs offer the highest pay? Investment banking is up there. So is specialist surgery. But consider this. Slightly over twenty years ago, Johnathan Roberts started work on an oil rig at $5 an hour. Today, the newly appointed operations manager of Norway's Standard Drilling makes about half a million dollars a year. Even accounting for inflation, it's a huge jump for the 45-year-old American. Salaries on oil rigs have soared because of a global boom in offshore drilling. ...

Endeavour finally reaches permanent LA museum home

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 04:35 PM PDT

The space shuttle Endeavour slowly moves down Martin Luther King Boulevard on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 in Los Angeles. In thousands of Earth orbits, the space shuttle Endeavour traveled 123 million miles. But the last few miles of its final journey are proving hard to get through. Endeavour's 12-mile crawl across Los Angeles to the California Science Museum hit repeated delays Saturday, leaving expectant crowds along city streets and at the destination slowly dwindling. Officials estimated the shuttle, originally expected to finish the trip early Saturday evening, would not arrive until later Sunday. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Michael Robinson Chavez, Pool)It was supposed to be a slow but smooth journey to retirement, a parade through city streets for a shuttle that logged millions of miles in space.

Koch brothers warn employees of layoffs if Obama re-elected

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:57 PM PDT

Koch Brothers Publish Voicemail Of Democratic Senator Asking For CashKoch Industries, the Wichita, Kan.-based company run by the billionaire Koch brothers, sent a voter information packet to 45,000 employees of its Georgia Pacific subsidiary earlier this month. In it was a letter, dated Oct. 1, from Koch Industries president Dave Robertson implicitly warning that "many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors [...]

East Coast hikers missing in Glacier National Park

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 01:11 PM PDT

Rescue teams at Glacier National Park searched in wintery conditions and rugged terrain Sunday for two East Coast hikers reported missing by family members.

85-year-old woman killed in hit-and-run

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 01:21 PM PDT

Chicago police are investigating a hit-and-run accident on the West Side that left an 85-year-old woman dead early this morning, officials said.

At CDC, scientists fight to halt a deadly outbreak

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:33 PM PDT

Shawn Lockhart looks at the meningitis-causing fungus Exserohilum rostratum at the mycotic lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Oct. 12, 2012 in Atlanta. The staff and technicians have been working around the clock to confirm cases and inform the public regarding the multi-state meningitis outbreak that has resulted in 14 deaths. The fungal outbreak is believed to have started at New England Compounding Center where a steroid injection shipment was contaminated with the fungus. (AP Photo/Pouya Dianat)Scattered across the carefully landscaped main campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are the staff on the front lines fighting a rare outbreak of fungal meningitis: A scientist in a white lab coat peers through a microscope at fungi on a glass slide. In another room, another researcher uses what looks like a long, pointed eye dropper to suck up DNA samples that will be tested for the suspect fungus.

Felix Baumgartner’s space jump captivates Internet, Twitter

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:18 PM PDT

Felix Baumgartner Leaps From 39kmFelix Baumgartner's record-setting jump from the edge of space captivated millions watching the Red Bull-sponsored event live online via YouTube. And the 43-year-old Austrian skydiver's two-hour, 24-plus-mile balloon ascent and harrowing four-minute freefall in a pressurized spacesuit provided plenty of fodder for those on Twitter. "And you thought your weekend was exciting," Twitter user @wonderwamy [...]

Tornado warning canceled for DuPage, northern Cook

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 01:03 PM PDT

The National Weather Service has canceled a tornado warning for portions of the west and north suburbs as a strong thunderstorm system moved through the area.

Former Senator Arlen Specter, 82, dies of cancer

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 12:18 PM PDT

Arlen Specter was a moderate who spent three decades in the U.S. Senate but was spurned by Pennsylvania voters after switching in 2009 from Republican to Democrat.

Long after death, Confederate spy honored in Ark.

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:26 AM PDT

In this photo provided by the Arkansas History Commission Oct. 9, 2012, a copy of a 1912 painting by artist William Besser from a Civil War era photograph of David O. Dodd is displayed in Little Rock, Ark. Dodd is relatively unknown outside of Arkansas, but the teenage spy who chose to hang rather than betray the Confederate cause is seen as a folk hero by many in his home state.(AP Photo/Courtesy Arkansas History Commission)The story of David O. Dodd is relatively unknown outside of Arkansas, but the teenage spy who chose to hang rather than betray the Confederate cause is a folk hero to many in his home state.

Endeavour's final miles turn into all-night affair

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:07 PM PDT

Endeavour's final miles turn into all-night affairThe space shuttle Endeavour is finally on the home stretch of its journey through Los Angeles streets to its retirement at a museum.Officials are estimating that the space craft will reach the California ...

World's highest skydive! Daredevil makes record supersonic jump

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:18 AM PDT

World's Highest Skydive! Daredevil Makes Record-Breaking Supersonic JumpThis story was updated at 6:19 p.m. EDT. 

Turkey bans Syrian planes from its air space, rebels gain

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:32 AM PDT

A taxi drives past a damaged building in the al Katerji Tariq district in Aleppo city in northern SyriaBEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Turkey has banned all Syrian aircraft from its air space as it takes an increasingly firm stance against President Bashar al-Assad, while Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had made more gains in a key province near the Turkish border. Human Rights Watch said Syrian government forces had dropped Russian-made cluster bombs over civilian areas in the past week as they battled to reverse rebel advances, an act which rights groups say can constitute a war crime. ...

Amphibious vehicle to go on sale soon in U.S.

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 11:07 AM PDT

In this Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 photo, the Quadski, a one-person motor boat that also drives on land, is tested in in Oxford Mich. The vehicle is being billed as the first commercially available, high-speed amphibious vehicle by its makers, Michigan-based Gibbs Technologies. It's scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. by the end of this year for around $40,000. The company hopes to sell it worldwide by 2014. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)Amphibious vehicles could soon be zooming out of James Bond's garage — or pond — and into yours.

Skydiver begins daring bid to break sound barrier

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 10:22 AM PDT

The capsule, bottom left, and attached helium balloon carrying Felix Baumgartner lifts off as he attempts to break the speed of sound with his own body by jumping from a space capsule lifted by a helium balloon, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, in Roswell, N.M. Baumgartner plans to jump from an altitude of 120,000 feet, an altitude chosen to enable him to achieve Mach 1 in free fall, which would deliver scientific data to the aerospace community about human survival from high altitudes.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Lifted by a massive balloon, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner ascended high above Earth on Sunday in his bid to complete a death-defying 23-mile free fall that could make him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.

Watch live: Skydiver heads to stratospheric jump

Posted: 14 Oct 2012 10:22 AM PDT

An Austrian daredevil lifted off today in hopes of making his delayed skydive from a balloon flying 23 miles above the planet and breaking the sound barrier.