From a Lucas museum to a Trump-ed up Tower to Obama, Rauner and Madigan, it was a wild year.
From the cartoonist:
It was quite a year here in Illinois and Chicago. George Lucas wants a slice of our lake front to build a monument Museum to himself. Jay Cutler proved over and over again he’s a great NFL quarterback…for the other teams. The Chicago Sky made the WNBA finals. Derrick Rose seems perpetually injuried. The Illinois Grand Old Party remained not so grand. President Obama is shopping around his library. Rahm is dancing his way to re-election. While (House Speaker Mike) Madigan and (Senate President John) Cullerton continue to be the real power in the state with little Lisa in tow. We lost two great women in Judy Baar Topinka and Jane Byrne. Oh, and the pension debt for both the city and the state hangs over our heads like the Sword of Damocles. 2015 is shaping up to be, oh, what’s the word? Oh yeah, just as screwed up as 2014!
Click the image to enlarge.
There are two years left in President Obama’s second term, but the clock has run out on locations looking to make a bid for his presidential library. The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago in Obama’s adopted home city are among the spots still vying for the chance with bids due Dec. 11, but the designation as the president’s home doesn’t necessarily mean a site in the city will win, or that every Chicagoan thinks a site in the city should win.
Columbia University in New York and the University of Hawaii are also on the short list, says the Chicago Tribune. The other two are just as strong possibilities as the sites in Chicago, an assistant to the U. of C. president told the Tribune. It’s still anybody’s guess where it could go.
Columbia’s assets include its designation as Obama’s undergraduate alma mater and its plans to build the library as part of an extension into a predominately black neighborhood in Manhattan. Hawaii is protecting its claim to fame in this case as Obama’s birthplace. But the Tribune points out the Windy City is the birthplace of Obama’s presidential run.
“This is where he came of age politically to be able to do that run. That is what we reference to when we say, ‘Bring it on home,’” said [President and CEO of DuSable Museum of African American History Carol] Adams, a member of the U. of C.’s community advisory board on the presidential library.
To read the rest of this post, click here.