"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

ComEd: Rate formula ruling puts smart grid, jobs at risk

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:41 PM PDT

A dispute over how Commonwealth Edison Co. will be paid for its $2.6 billion plan to modernize its electrical grid has thrown the project into limbo along with potentially hundreds of jobs related to that work.

From Obama's race to Romney's 47 percent: A guide to leaked videos

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:04 PM PDT

Romney Camp: 2007 Obama Video Won't Come Up During DebateIn the two weeks since a left-leaning news site posted that discreetly filmed video of Mitt Romney discounting the "47 percent", a barrage of equally grainy and often ancient videos of his rival and his running mate have popped up from bloggers on both sides of the aisle.

Romney, Obama set to square off

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 05:00 PM PDT

Mitt Romney gets his first chance to go head-to-head against President Barack Obama, and potentially turn the tide of the campaign.

Secret Cold War tests in St. Louis raise concerns

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 03:19 PM PDT

This undated photo provided by the subject shows St. Louis sociology professor Lisa Martino-Taylor. Martino-Taylor performed a study raising new concerns about secret Army testing during the Cold War that sprayed a potentially hazardous chemical into the air in St. Louis. The tests targeted predominantly black areas of the city. Now, some residents are left to wonder if those tests led to health problems for them and for relatives. (AP Photo/Courtesy Lisa Martino-Taylor)Doris Spates was a baby when her father died inexplicably in 1955. She has watched four siblings die of cancer, and she survived cervical cancer.

State Dept opens Benghazi consulate attack probe

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:42 PM PDT

FILE - This Sept. 12, 2012 file photo shows Libyans walking on the grounds of the gutted U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. An independent panel appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is opening its inquiry into the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, amid demands from Congress for speedy answers to questions about the security of the mission and concerns that the FBI investigation into the incident has been delayed. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri, File)Past investigations into attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions have blamed both the administration and Congress for failing to spend enough money to ensure that the overseas facilities were safe despite a clear rise in terror threats to American interests abroad.

Increase in craft beer helps turn industry around

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:18 PM PDT

Brewers can finally toast to good sales this year, after a mid-year report published by the Brewer's Association cited a 14 percent growth in beer sales. The organization represents 1,400 U.S. breweries, or about 70 percent of the industry. Craft beer also experienced a spike...

Colorado movie theater shooting suspect claims his rights were violated

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:29 PM PDT

FILE - This file photo provided on Sept. 20, 2012 by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office shows James Holmes. Holmes, the suspect in a deadly movie theater attack in Colorado, threatened a professor before the shooting, leading the university to ban him from campus, prosecutors said in court documents released Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Arapahoe County Sheriff, File)Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes' constitutional rights were violated when his jail mug shot was recently released to the media, his defense team claims. In documents released on Wednesday, the court-appointed lawyers argue the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department violated the judge's order to limit pretrial publicity by providing an updated photo of Holmes [...]

Video: Handless magician performs card tricks

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:09 PM PDT

Mahdi Gilbert does not have hands, but he has a seemingly magical ability to perform amazing card tricks that the average person can barely follow, let alone decipher. In this video, Gilbert performs some tricks before a small group at 2010's Magic-Con. The website for Magic-Con describes Gilbert as "a rare gentleman and scoundrel who [...]

Denver braces for ‘debate’ traffic

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:31 PM PDT

Denver residents are bracing for gridlock conditions—or what qualifies as gridlock conditions in Colorado—on Wednesday night as the city hosts the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney at the University of Denver. A six-mile stretch of Interstate 25 will be closed in both directions between 5 and 10 p.m., the city [...]

Seinfeld fires off letter to the Times ripping critic

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 11:05 AM PDT

Jerry Seinfeld really has a lot of free time on his hands. On Tuesday, the New York Times published a column by Neil Genzlinger critical of screenwriters he thinks overuse the word "really" in their scripts. "Civilization crumbles a little bit almost every time I turn on the television," Genzlinger wrote, "and a single word-and-punctuation-mark [...]

Startup gives users control over sale of personal data

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:47 PM PDT

Most sites that you visit on the Web allow you to use their services without charging you money. There is a transaction happening, but you do not sign anything. You and the website have a sort of quasi-agreement: You, the user, do not pay to use the website's service, and in exchange, it shows you [...]

Jailers accused of sending inmates on unsupervised beer runs

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:35 PM PDT

Two corrections officers at American Samoa's only jail are accused of letting some inmates leave the jail to go on shopping trips for beer and chips. Officers Fiti Aina and Rocky Tua are being investigated after one of the Territorial Correctional Facility's inmates escaped. According to court documents, one inmate said he was allowed to [...]

Schwarzenegger’s advice for debate: ‘Be as honest as possible’

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:51 PM PDT

Schwarzenegger: This is the land of opportunityArnold Schwarzenegger is a movie star and a political star. As governor of California,  he has been in two debates. On "Piers Morgan" tonight, the ex-"Governator" has some advice for the candidates for president as they face off in their first debate: "Be as honest as possible." No surprise that honesty is on the A-lister's [...]

Will the next 'Snowmageddon' simply be named Helen?

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 02:26 PM PDT

TWC not backing down from naming plan, despite cool reception

The Weather Channel is not backing down from plans to name winter storms similar to those assigned to tropical storms and hurricanes, despite skepticism by some fellow forecasters and weather observers.

Obama, Romney will be speaking to two different audiences

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:31 PM PDT

President Barack Obama's goal will be to nail down more key battleground states, while Mitt Romney needs to win over undecided voters and others that are leaning toward Obama.

Debate prep advice from a pro: practice those zingers

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:07 PM PDT

Challenges for 2012 presidential campaignsWhen it comes to debates, punches are good, counterpunches better, questions predictable, and the key to success: practice, practice, practice.

N. Dakota oil boom minting up to 2,000 millionaires a year

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:45 PM PDT

An aerial view of an oil well site near Watford City, North DakotaSTANLEY, North Dakota (Reuters) - The retired men shooting the breeze at Joyce's Cafe in Stanley don't look like oil barons but appearances can be deceptive, especially in North Dakota. Take Robert Western, a farmer who was dressed in rumpled overalls and a baseball cap as he sipped coffee and discussed the oil boom that has transformed this once sleepy town. "Some of the younger people buy a lot more - machinery, vehicles, things like that," said the 75-year-old Western. "The rest of us, I guess it doesn't alter our lifestyle a great deal. I don't have a lot of needs. ...

Colorado ranchers struggle to survive drought

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 11:27 AM PDT

GippLOMA, Colo.—A group of black-coffee-drinking cowboys wearing ten-gallon hats gathered last week at the Western Slope Cattlemen's Livestock Auction house. Waiting inside a crowded diner for the sale to begin, they watched a light rain wash dust off the pickup trucks outside. The unusual sight raised cautious hopes that a crushing drought, which spread across [...]

Ill. police find pot farm with plants as big as trees

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:17 PM PDT

Urban farming is usually thought of as a niche business for high-end food produce. In Chicago, it has taken on a new meaning.

Who gets the first question? A Q&A on tonight's debate

Posted: 03 Oct 2012 02:34 PM PDT

debate stageTired of being deluged with TV commercials telling you that President Barack Obama or challenger Mitt Romney "approved this message?" The candidates will deliver their message for themselves Wednesday night in the first of three head-to-head presidential debates.