"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

GOP scoffs at White House’s ‘fiscal cliff’ opening bid

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 03:59 PM PST

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures as he speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Bolstered by his reelection, President Barack Obama on Thursday made a detailed opening bid to Congressional Republicans for averting the so-called fiscal cliff -- the mix of tax hikes and deep spending cuts that risk plunging the economy into a new recession come 2013. Republicans flatly rejected the offer, which mostly repackaged Obama's previous budget [...]

Could Bill Clinton be getting a new job in Washington?

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 12:04 PM PST

Could Bill Clinton Be Getting a New Job in Washington? Who Else is Coming to Town?President Obama is about to enter his second term in office, and George Stephanopoulos answers your questions about it.

U.N. upgrades Palestine to 'state,' U.S. objects

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 05:44 PM PST

Palestinians hold pictures of President Mahmoud Abbas and wave Fatah flags during a rally supporting the Palestinian UN bid for observer state status, in the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The Palestinians are certain to win U.N. recognition as a state on Thursday but success could exact a high price: delaying an independent state of Palestine because of Israel's vehement opposition. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)The General Assembly votes by a more than two-thirds majority to upgrade Palestine to a "nonmember observer state."

Verdict reached in case of attorney letting suspect use cellphone

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 04:46 PM PST

A verdict has been reached in the controversial trial of a lawyer accused of letting a suspect in the slaying of a Chicago police officer use her cellphone in an interrogation room.

U.N. upgrades Palestine to 'state'

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 02:05 PM PST

IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR AVAAZ - President of the Palestinan National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, center, celebrates with members of his delegation and other supporters after the U.N. General Assembly's historic vote to recognize Palestine as its 194th State at U.N. Headquarters, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (Jason DeCrow/AP Images for Avaaz)The General Assembly votes by a more than two-thirds majority to upgrade Palestine to a "nonmember observer state."

Internet service goes out across Syria

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 05:25 PM PST

In this citizen journalism image provided by the Homs City Union of The Syrian Revolution, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian citizens walk in a destroyed street that was attacked on Wednesday by Syrian forces warplanes, at Abu al-Hol street in Homs province, Syria, Thursday Nov. 29, 2012. Two US-based Internet-monitoring companies say Syria has shut off the Internet nationwide. Activists in Syria reached Thursday by satellite telephone confirmed the unprecedented blackout, which comes amid intense fighting in the capital, Damascus.(AP Photo/Homs City Union of The Syrian Revolution)Internet service went down Thursday across Syria and international flights were canceled at the Damascus airport.

Senate votes for quicker withdrawal from Afghanistan

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 02:57 PM PST

FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 file photo, U.S. soldiers, part of the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) walks, as a U.S. Chinook helicopter is seen on the back ground near the place where the foundation of a hospital was laid in Shindand, Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. The phrases to describe some of the looming foreign policy challenges for U.S. President Barack Obama didn't even exist when he took the oath of office the first time: the Arab Spring, the Fordo Facility housing Iran's underground uranium enrichment labs, the stealth power of new viruses bearing names such as Stuxnet and Flame in the shadow world of cyber-sabotage. While the war in Afghanistan, now in its 12th year, was barely a topic on the campaign trail, the country will certainly command a great deal of Obama's attention in his second term. Obama soon will receive his top military officials' recommendations about how fast to withdraw the roughly 66,000 U.S. troops still in Afghanistan. The first 33,000 American troops withdrew by the end of September.(AP Photo/Hoshang Hashimi, File)The vote sends a clear message to the president and the military as they engage in talks about the pace of drawing down the 68,000 U.S. troops there.

Zimmerman autographing donor cards to raise money

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 09:51 AM PST

Zimmerman looks on during his hearing at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, FloridaZimmerman's Defense Fund Has Less Than $15,000 Left in It

And the most popular baby names of 2012 are ...

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:48 PM PST

When it comes to the all-important, and often all-consuming, new parent task of deciding what your beloved offspring should be called for the rest of their lives, moms and dads seem to stick to what they know.

Wacker Drive to reopen Friday

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 03:17 PM PST

The rebuilt north-south section of Wacker Drive will be completely open to traffic on Friday, including the lower-level roadway connection to Congress Parkway, Chicago transportation officials said Thursday.

Romney, Obama lunch, agree to ‘stay in touch.’ Maybe.

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 12:08 PM PST

Obama, RomneyThey discussed America's leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that position, says the White House.

Fiscal cliff would have slashed Powerball winnings by $8M

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:05 PM PST

Powerball lottery tickets are seen in New YorkThe winners of the $587 million Powerball jackpot should obviously consider themselves lucky. But they should be especially grateful that they won in 2012 and not next year, when a possible dive over the so-called fiscal cliff would certainly slash their winnings. Two Powerball winners, one from Arizona and another from Missouri, were announced on [...]

Abbas: UN vote last chance on two-state solution

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:32 PM PST

People march in support of the Palestinian UN bid for observer state status, in the West Bank town of Jenin, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The Palestinians are certain to win U.N. recognition as a state on Thursday but success could exact a high price: delaying an independent state of Palestine because of Israel's vehement opposition. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is telling the U.N. General Assembly that it "is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine."

French court overturns Concorde crash conviction

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:07 AM PST

FILE - In this July 25, 2000, file photo, Air France Concorde flight 4590 takes off with fire trailing from its engine on the left wing from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. A French appeals court is expected to decide on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, whether to uphold a manslaughter conviction against Continental Airlines for the crash over a decade ago of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people. Continental Airlines, Inc. and one of its mechanics were convicted in 2010. (AP Photo/Toshihiko Sato, File) MANDATORY CREDIT; JAPAN OUTIn a surprise ruling in one of the most high-profile disasters in aviation history, an appeals court overturned manslaughter convictions against Continental and a mechanic for the 2000 crash.

'Who scheduled that?': The Obama-Romney lunch, imagined

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:12 AM PST

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney exchange views during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. President Barack Obama will host his former political rival Mitt Romney for a private lunch at the White House Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, their first meeting since the election. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)No press was allowed at today's lunch date, so we're left to imagine what the onetime nemeses discussed while munched on whatever they munched on.

Band creates music video made entirely with Instagram

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 12:36 PM PST

Instagram is arguably one of the coolest inventions of the last couple of years for smartphones. Some people might even say that it has revolutionized the way people share photos on social media. The premier feature, which allows users to add different filters to photos that enhance the colors and shading, is wildly popular. So [...]

Lawmaker from Chicago indicted on bank fraud charges

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 01:04 PM PST

Illinois Rep. LaShawn Ford, 40, was indicted today on federal charges he made false statements to a bank to obtain a $500,000 increase on a line of credit. The Chicago Democrat was charged with using the money to pay for personal expenses rather than to rehab properties in the city, prosecutors said.

Ice on Mercury, despite nearby Sun

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 11:44 AM PST

Mercury IceData from a NASA spacecraft settles a 20-year debate about the ice, enough of it to cover the District of Columbia.

Dear Mr. President: My petition requires your magical powers

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:13 AM PST

The internet activism crowd has never had a realistic sense for what happens when you to plug government directly into the Ethernet port. This is what happens: In addition to petitions for secession, you get ones calling for Bigfoot to be recognized as an endangered species, naturopathic medicine to be covered by Obamacare, and funding for a Death Star beginning in 2016.

Bulls to sell naming rights for downtown practice facility

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:46 AM PST

The Chicago Bulls aren't merely moving their practice facility downtown. They're changing the name.