Englewood shooting victim dies









An afternoon shooting in the Englewood neighborhood has left a man dead on a day in which at least 10 people have been shot since 12 a.m., according to authorities.


At 3:10 p.m. someone shot a male victim multiple times in the abdomen in the 5500 block of South Loomis Boulevard, News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien said.

The victim, a man in his 20s, was taken from the scene of the shooting in the Englewood neighborhood to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where he was pronounced dead at 3:52 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.


Saturday night about 8:30 p.m., a male was shot in the West Town neighborhood, police said.





The male, whose age and condition were not immediately released, was taken from the 1800 block of West Maypole Avenue to Stroger with a gunshot wound to the buttocks.


About 7:10 p.m., two men were injured in a shooting in the 5100 block of West Oakdale Avenue, O'Brien said.


A 25-year-old man was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the back, O'Brien said. A 21-year-old man was taken to the same hospital in good condition with a gunshot wound to the wrist, O'Brien said.


The shooting happened in the Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side.


Late Saturday morning, a shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood left another victim shot in the abdomen and seriously wounded.


Someone shot the male in the abdomen at 11:48 a.m. in the 4500 block of South Marshfield Avenue, according to Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan.


He was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in serious condition, Sullivan said.


The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not known immediately but Sullivan said no one was arrested.


Earlier Saturday, four people were shot in two separate incidents before the sun rose, and a fifth man was killed in a West Side shooting.


chicagobreaking@tribune.com


Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking





Read More..

Monti, in Twitter Q&A, says new voting law priority for Italy






ROME (Reuters) – Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday if he wins February’s parliamentary election one of his first acts would be to overhaul the voting law to improve democracy and government stability.


Monti, 69, who last week confirmed he would lead a centrist coalition in the February 24-25 vote, called himself a “bit of a pioneer” in politics during nearly 2 hours of #MontiLive tweets.






The electoral law is unpopular because party leaders select candidates and voters cannot choose their representatives. For technical reasons, it also makes forming a stable majority more difficult, leading to broad and unwieldy coalitions.


“This electoral law is not worthy of a country like Italy,” said Monti of the 2005 legislation passed when centre-right rival Silvio Berlusconi was in power.


Monti and Berlusconi trail the centre-left in opinion polls and have made multiple appearances, mainly on TV, over the past week as they seek to recoup support and motivate voters who have said they do not intend to vote.


A poll by the Tecne research institute released on SkyTG24 on Friday showed Monti’s grouping would likely attract slightly more than 12 percent of the vote.


That compared with 40 percent for the centre-left bloc led by Pier Luigi Bersani’s Democratic Party (PD); and 25 percent for the most likely centre-right coalition of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) and the Northern League.


In a separate tweet, Monti indicated he would “dialogue” with anyone after the vote whether he wins or not, as long as they are “reformists”.


BERLUSCONI BROADSIDE


Speaking at the same time in a live interview on the website of Corriere della Sera newspaper, Berlusconi said he would never again ally himself with Monti even though he offered him the leadership of the centre-right just a few weeks ago.


“All Italian citizens, in one way or another, are suffering” as a result of Monti’s 13 months in power, said Berlusconi, who says austerity has led the country into a recessionary spiral.


Monti took over in November 2011 when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis and after Berlusconi, besieged by a sex scandal involving an underage prostitute, stepped down.


Berlusconi repeated on Saturday that his resignation was the result of an international plot to oust him and denied having made mistakes during his more than nine years in power.


“My only error is that I have not been able to explain what I have done for the country,” Berlusconi said.


“By now (Monti’s) image has become that of a person with whom I could not possibly collaborate,” Berlusconi said, calling the prime minister’s new alliance with two of Berlusconi’s former allies a “triple disaster”.


Berlusconi said a renewed accord with the Northern League may be finalized on Sunday. The Northern League has said the 76-year-old billionaire must not be the bloc’s prime ministerial candidate for a sixth time.


“Monti is an enemy of the north, and stopping him from returning to government is a categorical priority for us. Who is against Monti is an ally of the League,” Northern League leader Roberto Maroni tweeted on Saturday.


(Editing by Janet Lawrence)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Monti, in Twitter Q&A, says new voting law priority for Italy
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/monti-in-twitter-qa-says-new-voting-law-priority-for-italy/
Link To Post : Monti, in Twitter Q&A, says new voting law priority for Italy
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

‘Killing Lincoln’ Producer: John Wilkes Booth Could Be ‘Poster Child for the Tea Party’






NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Erik Jendresen, writer and executive producer of the upcoming Nat Geo film “Killing Lincoln,” says presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth could have been a modern-day “poster child for the Tea Party.”


Jendresen spoke about the film, which stars Billy Campbell as Lincoln, at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. The film is based on the book co-written by “O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly, a noted supporter of many Tea Party ideals.






Jendresen stressed that Booth wasn’t a madman, but held views that were fairly common at the time of the assassination.


“This is not the act of somebody who can be easily dismissed as a psychopath so that it’s easy to understand: ‘Oh, well, he was crazy.’ No. It’s more disturbing to find out who Booth was,” Jendresen said. “This is a man who believed what still probably 20 percent of this country still believes. He could be a poster child for the Tea Party.”


Asked if he thought Bill O’Reilly would agree with that assessment, he passed.


“I can’t speak for Mr. O’Reilly,” he told TheWrap. “I think that if you look at the sort of politics of the time, and a lot of the epithets that were being hurled at Lincoln, there was a feeling in the nation that’s not dissimilar from what we’ve experienced in the past four years in response to Barack Obama – the sense of an imperial presidency or soundbytes about somebody who’s going to proclaim himself king and take over.”


“It’s stunning to me to read some of the newspaper articles and some of the interviews of the time, some of the contents of the letters and memoirs from the time and some of the things that were thought about Lincoln in the South are so similar to … the dialogue today,” he added.


Nat Geo was previously criticized by conservatives who felt that its film “Seal Team Six,” about the killing of Osama bin Laden, amounted to a campaign ad for President Obama.


Contacted through Fox News, O’Reilly did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News




Read More..

Chicago restaurateurs shrug off economic worries









Chicago may have lost a few of its Michelin-starred restaurants in 2012 and waved goodbye to the inimitable Charlie Trotter's, but the higher-end restaurant scene is powering up in ways not seen since prerecession days, according to industry players and observers.


Local operators with a hit or two are embarking on ambitious ventures, though keeping an eye on startup costs and menu prices. A handful of chefs with established followings, among them Curtis Duffy and Iliana Regan, are sticking out their necks with riskier fine-dining ventures. And some prominent out-of-towners are investing on a grand scale, with a Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse just opened in the former Esquire Theater on Oak Street, and an Italian food and wine marketplace, Eataly, planned for the former ESPN Zone site in River North.


The flurry of activity is seen by some as a signal the economy has stabilized, at least for now.





"People are out spending money again, and corporations are hosting expensive dinners again, and there was a period when that was not happening," said Neil Stern, senior partner at McMillanDoolittle, a retail consultancy. "It affects the high end significantly."


Still, the bubbling of enthusiasm for the upper end of the market is something of an anomaly. The rebound in Chicago restaurant startups across all price ranges is tenuous. The city issued 1,458 new retail food licenses in 2012, only 11 more than in 2010 and below the 1,589 issued in 2007, the year leading into the recession.


Just as there are new arrivals, there were some big losses last year in this notoriously volatile business. Notable exits include Charlie Trotter's, Crofton on Wells, Il Mulino, One Sixtyblue, Pane Caldo and Ria at the Waldorf Astoria, one of several luxury hotels to step away from fine dining.


Weak economic conditions played a role for some, and the forecast for 2013 remains uncertain.


"It's a precarious market, and one economic blip really can take demand out of the market very, very quickly," Stern said.


Still, upscale-restaurant operators are moving ahead, betting on Chicagoans' seemingly endless fascination with food trends, dining out and the city's robust roster of accomplished chefs.


"When I was a child, people would go to each other's homes for a dinner party every week and would rarely go to restaurants — now it is almost the opposite," said David Flom, who with his business partner Matthew Moore hit a grand slam with Chicago Cut Steakhouse in River North, which opened in 2010. Steaks range from $34 to $114; soup, salad, sauces, vegetables and potatoes all are extra.


In December, they opened The Local at the Hilton Suites in Streeterville, a more modestly priced venue where executive chef Travis Strickland, formerly of the Inn at Blackberry Farm, is serving locally sourced comfort food. Meatloaf made with prime dry-aged beef goes for $24, rotisserie chicken pot pie for $22.


"People can use The Local as an everyday restaurant," Flom said. "People can say, 'Let's just grab a burger at The Local.' It doesn't have to be $100 a person, it can be $25."


At Chicago Cut, the average check, per person, is $82, including drinks, versus $44 at The Local, he said.


Industry observer Ron Paul, president and CEO of Technomic Inc., said he is particularly intrigued by the growing strength of such emerging independents, who are nipping at the heels of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc., even as that homegrown powerhouse continues to churn out winning concepts.


As restaurant real estate broker Randee Becker, president of Restaurants!, put it: "People who are doing north of $8 million to $10 million of sales are expanding in a big way."


After establishing a high-style, large-scale foothold in River North with the opening of Epic in 2009, proprietors Steve Tavoso and Jeff Krogh last fall embarked on a second act in the neighborhood. They engaged prominent chefs — Thomas Elliott Bowman and Ben Roche, who worked together at Moto — but kept their initial investment more modest this time.


Their latest entry, the eclectic Baume & Brix, opened last fall in the former Rumba space, which had most of the necessary mechanical, electrical, plumbing and kitchen elements in place. Startup costs were about $1.5 million, compared with more than $5 million spent to open Epic. "I took raw space (for Epic) — I would never do that again," Tavoso recalled.


Mercadito Hospitality, whose Chicago offerings include high-energy Latin American tapas spots Mercadito and Tavernita, also is watching its pennies on startups, its most recent being Little Market Brasserie in the Talbott Hotel. Led by chef/partner Ryan Poli, the restaurant has quietly opened with a Parisian decor and American small plates. Its grand opening is expected Jan. 18.


"We are aware of the fact the economy is not fully recovered, so we try to keep our expenses down without sacrificing quality," said managing partner Alfredo Sandoval.


The Chicago-based group intends to keep expanding. It just signed a lease at a River North spot with a 4 a.m. liquor license, with plans to open a drinks-focused venue there in 2013.





Read More..

Second escaped inmate caught in former neighborhood

Chicago Tribune reporter Jason Meisner on the recent arrest of Kenneth Conley, a convicted bank robber who escaped from federal jail in December. (Posted on: Jan. 4, 2013.)









The second inmate who made a daring escape last month from a high-rise federal jail in the South Loop was captured today in south suburban Palos Hills, according to FBI officials.


Kenneth Conley, a convicted bank robber, was awaiting sentencing when he and cellmate Joseph “Jose” Banks scaled about 15 floors down the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Dec. 18 with a rope fashioned from bedsheets.


FBI Spokeswoman Joan Hyde said Conley was apprehended at an apartment complex at about 4 p.m. by Palos Hills police.








Palos Hills Police Deputy Chief James Boie said officers apprehended Conley with the help of two maintenance men working at an apartment complex in the 10200 block of South 86th Terrace, who called police at about 3:30 p.m. to report a “suspicious person.''


In 2004, Conley used to live on another street of the Scenic Tree complex where police were initially called, Boie said.


At least two officers who had been checking out the complaint were talking with the building maintenance workers in the basement of the building on 86th Terrace but did not find Conley. 


As they were leaving, they saw their lieutenant outside on the street about a half a block away, involved in a dispute with Conley, who’d been walking eastbound, Boie said.


Conley was dressed in an overcoat, pretending to use a cane and was wearing glasses. He had a dark hat pulled down low over his head and appeared to be trying to look older than he actually was, Boie said.


“Our officers stopped to talk to him and he said he was just visiting,” Boie said. “He gave them a phony name, and while they’re trying to run the information, he got wise that they were going to figure it out and he pushed one of the officers down and took off running.”

Before fleeing, Conley slugged the lieutenant, a 30-year department veteran, and the lieutenant had injuries including a possible torn hamstring. Boie said the lieutenant was taken to Palos Community Hospital for treatment.


Boie said two additional officers responding to the scene caught the man -- later identified as Conley -- about a block away as he was trying to force his way into an apartment at the complex.


He was wrestled down but did not offer any other resistance. Conley was also taken to Palos Community Hospital for observation, according to Boie.


When police were called about the suspicious person, the lieutenant, a sergeant and an officer initially went to check it out, said police Chief Paul J. Madigan.

When Conley could not provide identification the struggle broke out, with Conley taking a swing at one of the officers before fleeing into one of the buildings, Madigan said.

Conley was finally apprehended when he tried to break into someone’s apartment, Madigan said.

Conley told police he injured his arm during the struggle.  He remains in the custody of federal authorities, Madigan said.

The multi-unit complex is made up of clusters of 2-story, brick buildings, with a wooded area behind it.


Police found a BB pistol in Conley’s pocket. He had no money, ID or other weapons, Boie said.

Boie said that U.S. Marshals had been in the area days earlier after getting a tip that Conley had knocked on the door of a former acquaintance.


Boie said Conley was known to the police because he’d had multiple resisting and obstructing arrests in 2004. Even still, they were surprised when they realized who they’d just arrested.


“I’m sure they were a little surprised that they had the guy standing in front of them,’’ Boie said.


As far as what happens next, Boie said it was not up to their department.


“It’s been turned over to the FBI and I’m sure the next move is theirs,’’ Boie said.


Boie said Conley was charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and resisting arrest for today’s incident.


Conley’s mother, Sandra, answered the phone at her Tinley Park home this evening and said she had heard of her son’s arrest but had no details or comment.


Read More..

New Jersey man accused of trying to hire “cannibal cop” to kidnap woman






NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New Jersey man offered to pay $ 5,000 to the so-called “cannibal cop” to kidnap a woman and deliver her to be raped, U.S. officials alleged on Friday.


Federal authorities arrested Michael Vanhise, 23, and charged him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping with Gilberto Valle III, a New York police officer who was arrested in October and charged with conspiring to kidnap, torture, cook and eat women.






In a series of emails last year, Vanhise tried to bargain down the kidnapping fee and urged the police officer to “just make sure she doesn’t die before I get her,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.


“No need to worry,” Valle replied in an email, prosecutors allege. “She will be alive. It’s a short drive to you.”


Vanhise admitted to investigators he sent the emails, prosecutors said.


Valle, nicknamed the “cannibal cop” by New York media, was accused of targeting women whose names were discovered in a file on his computer.


In November, Valle pleaded not guilty and said he was merely engaged in online fantasy role play.


Vanhise was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He was expected to appear in court Friday afternoon. His attorney, Alice Fontier, did not immediately return a call for comment.


The emails between the two men “read like a script from a bad horror film,” Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said Friday in a statement.


Vanhise was also accused of emailing photos and the home address of a girl from his Hamilton, New Jersey neighborhood to two unnamed people, according to a criminal complaint, which said Vanhise solicited the girl’s kidnapping.


Prosecutors said Vanhise tried to bargain down the price for the kidnapping to $ 4,000.


“Could we do 4?” Vanhise asked Valle in an email last February, according to the complaint.


“I am putting my neck on the line here … $ 5,000 and you need to make sure that she is not found,” Valle responded. “She will definitely make news.”


Valle’s estranged wife tipped off authorities after she discovered a disturbing file on his computer, a law enforcement official said at the time.


The file, called “Abducting and Cooking: A Blueprint,” contained the names and pictures of at least 100 women, and the addresses and physical descriptions of some of them, according to court documents.


Authorities charged last fall that Valle had undertaken surveillance of some of the women at their places of employment and their homes.


Valle was denied bail by a judge who called the charges “profoundly disturbing.”


Both men face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. The case has disturbed even veteran criminal investigators.


“No effort to characterize the defendant’s actions is necessary,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos in a statement. “The factual allegations more than suffice to convey the depravity of the offense.”


(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Alden Bentley)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News




Read More..

Madonna, Bruce Springsteen biggest 2012 world tours






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop and rock music legends bested their younger chart-topping competition on the concert trail in 2012, according to data released on Friday by trade publication Pollstar.


Pop matriarch Madonna, 54, led all competition, grossing some $ 296.1 million in ticket sales in her 88-show world tour. She topped Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ($ 210.2 million) and Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters ($ 186.4 million).






The elder statesmen of the music world, while no longer topping the charts or scoring radio hits, are doing well because their older audiences can afford to pay higher ticket prices, Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar editor, told Reuters.


“Certainly the older acts charge more because they can get away with it,” he said.


The Rolling Stones were able to command an eye-popping $ 529.51 average ticket price. Their five-show tour in November and December grossed $ 35.5 million, good enough for No. 33 on the list.


British rockers Coldplay were No. 4 on the list, taking in $ 171.3 million. Lady Gaga placed fifth grossing $ 161.4 million while at No. 6 Cirque Du Soleil‘s tribute to late King of Pop Michael Jackson grossed $ 140.2 million during a 172-show tour.


Teen sensation Justin Bieber, who played a 35-show tour, failed to crack the top 20, taking in $ 40.2 million, at No. 23.


Acts that cemented their reputations decades ago dominated the top-grossing tours even while playing fewer shows.


Country stars Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw placed seventh grossing $ 96.5 million in 23 shows, while heavy metal pioneers Metallica were one spot lower at $ 86.1 million over 30 shows.


Some artists have been enticed to jack-up their own ticket prices after seeing how much more re-sellers were able to command, Bongiovanni explained.


“Now it’s a matter of how much money can I make,” he said. “Some artists like Springsteen are very popular but if you look at their average ticket price it’s nowhere near Roger Waters, Madonna and Lady Gaga.”


The average face-value ticket price for a Springsteen concert was $ 91.95, which was well below the $ 140.38 average for Madonna and $ 110.96 for Roger Waters.


Eight separate Cirque Du Soleil shows appeared in the top 50, which did not include the circus company’s non-traveling shows in Las Vegas and elsewhere. All told, the Canadian company may have earned close to $ 1 billion in gross ticket sales, Bongiovanni said.


Elton John ($ 69.9 million) and Red Hot Chili Peppers ($ 57.8 million) rounded out the top 10.


(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Madonna, Bruce Springsteen biggest 2012 world tours
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/madonna-bruce-springsteen-biggest-2012-world-tours/
Link To Post : Madonna, Bruce Springsteen biggest 2012 world tours
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

F.D.A. Offers Rules to Stop Food Contamination





The Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed two sweeping rules aimed at preventing the contamination of produce and processed foods, which has sickened tens of thousands of Americans annually in recent years.







Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Checking the temperature of lettuce at an Arizona farm. Safety measures would start at farms.







The proposed rules represent a sea change in the way the agency polices food, a process that currently involves taking action after contamination has been identified. It is a long-awaited step toward codifying the food safety law that Congress passed two years ago.


Changes include requirements for better record keeping, contingency plans for handling outbreaks and measures that would prevent the spread of contaminants in the first place. While food producers would have latitude in determining how to execute the rules, farmers would have to ensure that water used in irrigation met certain standards and food processors would need to find ways to keep fresh food that may contain bacteria from coming into contact with food that has been cooked.


New safety measures might include requiring that farm workers wash their hands, installing portable toilets in fields and ensuring that foods are cooked at temperatures high enough to kill bacteria.


Whether consumers will ultimately bear some of the expense of the new rules was unclear, but the agency estimated that the proposals would cost food producers tens of thousands of dollars a year.


A big question to be resolved is whether Congress will approve the money necessary to support the oversight. President Obama requested $220 million in his 2013 budget, but Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the F.D.A., said “resources remain an ongoing concern.”


Nonetheless, agency officials were optimistic that the new rules would protect consumers better.


“These new rules really set the basic framework for a modern, science-based approach to food safety and shift us from a strategy of reacting to problems to a strategy for preventing problems,” Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said in an interview. The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for the safety of about 80 percent of the food that Americans consume. The rest falls to the Agriculture Department, which is responsible for meat, poultry and some eggs.


One in six Americans becomes ill from eating contaminated food each year, the government estimates; most of them recover without concern, but roughly 130,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. The agency estimated the new rules could prevent about 1.75 million illnesses each year.


Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010 after a wave of incidents involving tainted eggs, peanut butter and spinach sickened thousands of people and led major food makers to join consumer advocates in demanding stronger government oversight.


But it took the Obama administration two years to move the rules through the regulatory agency, prompting complaints that the White House was more concerned about protecting itself from Republican criticism than about public safety.


Mr. Taylor said that the delay was a function of the wide variety of foods and the complexity of the food system. “Anything that is important and complicated will always take longer than you would like,” he said.


The first rule would require manufacturers of processed foods sold in the United States to come up with ways to reduce the risk of contamination. Food companies would be required to have a plan for correcting problems and for keeping records that government inspectors could audit.


An example might be to require the roasting of raw peanuts at a temperature guaranteed to kill salmonella, which has been a problem in nut butters in recent years. Roasted nuts would then have to be kept separate from raw nuts to further reduce the risk of contamination, said Sandra B. Eskin, director of the safe food campaign at the Pew Charitable Trusts.


“This is very good news for consumers,” Ms. Eskin said. “We applaud the administration’s action, which demonstrates its strong commitment to making our food safer.”


The second rule would apply to the harvesting and production of fruits and vegetables in an effort to combat bacterial contamination like E. coli, which is transmitted through feces. It would address what advocates refer to as the “four Ws” — water, waste, workers and wildlife.


Read More..

Shares in Jewel parent soar on report of deal









Stock in Jewel-Osco parent Supervalu soared 13.5 percent Friday on speculation that the company is on the brink of a deal with Cerberus Capital Management.

Shares for the Eden Prairie, Minn-based grocery company closed at $2.94.

Supervalu spokesman Mike Siemienas said the company is in talks with several suitors, though a deal is not assured.  A representative for Cerberus Capital Management, a New York-based investment firm, declined to comment for this story.

The Eden Prarie, Minn-based company, which also owns Albertsons, Cub, Acme and Save-A-Lot stores, said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale, in July. Days later, Supervalu dismissed CEO Craig Herkert, and Chairman Wayne Sales stepped in to run the troubled grocer.

Supervalu sales and earnings have lagged those of competitors for years. In 2012, the company's stock price fell 69.6 percent and return on investment declined 68.6 percent, according to Bloomberg. Average stock prices in the broader consumer staples market rose 7.4 percent and returns gained 10.7 percent in the period.

For the fiscal year ended Feb. 25, Supervalu reported a loss of $1.04 billion, which included a $519 million operating loss and $509 million in interest expense. Sales declined 3 percent, to $27.9 billion. The company has carried an onerous debt load since buying Albertsons, which included Chicago's Jewel-Osco chain, in 2006, making Supervalu the subject of bankruptcy  speculation.

Cerberus is rumored to be in the mix to buy parts of the company. The firm has experience in the food retail sector and was an investor in the 2006 Albertsons deal. Cerberus still holds a stake in Albertsons and Strategic Restaurants, a Burger King franchisee with more than 250 restaurants.

eyork@tribune.com | twitter: @emilyyork

SVU Chart

SVU data by YCharts


SVU Chart

SVU data by YCharts





Read More..

Alvarez to review domestic violence case









Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez vowed Thursday to review how her office handled domestic-violence charges three months before authorities said a Cicero father killed his wife and daughter and critically injured his son in an alleged case of arson last weekend.

In a statement, Alvarez said she had "serious questions and concerns" about why felony charges were not brought against Nathaniel Beller, 29, last September after he allegedly poured gasoline in the bathtub of his Cicero apartment and threatened to kill his two children.

Last Saturday, after his release from a mental health facility, Beller is suspected of pouring gasoline on his two young children and wife, Taniya Johnson, 33, in a home on Chicago's West Side and igniting them, officials said. Killed were Beller, his wife, and Neriyah, 4, his daughter. Son Naciere, 9, was critically injured.

"This case is a horrific tragedy involving the extremely complicated and challenging crime of domestic violence and the troubling and increasing prevalence of mental illness in criminal defendants," Alvarez said. "...This matter will be reviewed in its entirety and if individuals in this office need to be held accountable for their judgment, that will certainly occur."

Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania said Thursday that Cicero police recommended felony charges against Beller after the September incident, but that the state's attorney's office decided not to pursue that.

A Cicero police report indicated that an assistant state's attorney rejected felony charges because of a lack of evidence and the refusal of Beller's wife to cooperate.

State child-welfare officials removed the children from the home and placed them with an aunt while Cicero police continued to investigate the September incident. Meanwhile, Beller was committed to a mental health facility for the next three months, and the case went to juvenile court to determine custody of the children.

jmeisner@tribune.com

jmdelgado@tribune.com



Read More..