Chicago Daily Observer

Overnight mail delivery has improved in Chicago since the Sun-Times reported in March that in-town delivery here ranked worst in the nation, according to an audit released Wednesday by the Postal Service.

In the recent movie “Rescue Dawn,” a US fighter pilot struggles to survive after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War. In present-day Chicago, Ben Joravsky, a columnist for the Chicago Reader, jokes that his experience is similar-only instead of battling in the jungles of Laos, Joravsky is fighting to save apathetic Chicago citizens from a wildly corrupt Chicago city government.

Nevertheless, both are war zones.

Joravsky specializes in writing about TIFs, or tax-increment-financing districts. If you’re unfamiliar with TIFs, you’re not alone: many citizens find the process confusing, but worse yet, many just don’t care. However, the time for understanding is now-because in the city of Chicago alone, there are 153 TIFs currently open, which collect more than $400 million per year in property taxes (roughly 10 percent of your annual tax bill)-and a new one is proposed every month.

“At the pace they’re ... Read More...

How the media promote false pessimism about the economy.