The soldiers said it will be a peaceful gathering, but one that’s important for leaders to see.

CBS 2’s Marissa Bailey reports a handful of soldiers announced they are giving back their war medals to show NATO leaders they want nothing to do with foreign wars.

“I wanted so badly to believe in the idea of America. I wanted to believe that every war we ever fought, we won; that we were always just; that we were always doing the right thing, and trying to help, and save, and protect,” said former Army Ranger Graham Clumpner, who was deployed twice to Afghanistan. “And I bought into it hook, line, and sinker.”

Clumpner was given a Global War on Terrorism Service Award for his service fighting against the Taliban.

He said he was proud to join the military, but grew disillusioned, and ashamed of how operations were carried out.

“We’d go into people’s houses and go through literally all of their things, open up every single drawer and dump stuff on the ground, push things over, kick things over, and … make absolutely no effort to apologize, or pay people, or explain,” Clumpner said. “That process, for me, was the most traumatizing.”

Clumpner said he’s not happy with how troops were treated when they returned home, or how troops were trained to interact with native Afghans on the ground.

He said he hopes giving back his medals sends a message, loud and clear, to NATO leaders.

“As I throw back these medals on Sunday, I am saying that I reject. I return these to you and I’m no longer part of your system. I am no longer part of your organization. I am no longer part of your war,” he said.

There are at least 20 soldiers expected to give back their war medals on Sunday. Organizers said soldiers from every state will be at the ceremony, which they said will be “solemn and reverent.”

Organizers said they hope someone from NATO comes out to acknowledge them and accept the return of their medals during Sunday’s protest. If not, they hope a representative for the protesters can be allowed inside the summit to deliver their medals to NATO leaders. Otherwise, they’ll likely toss their medals over the barricades surrounding McCormick Place during the summit.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans claims Goodell has made false statements about Vilma while discussing the NFL’s bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

Goodell has said Vilma was a leader of the team’s bounty program that put up thousands of dollars for bounties on opposing team’s star players, including on then-Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and then-Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre during the 2009-10 playoffs.

Goodell has also suspended Vilma for the entire season. Vilma and three other players who received shorter suspensions all have appealed their punishments.

Vilma denies putting up money to knock any player out of a game.

His lawsuit asks for unspecified monetary damages

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

“As chairman of the Chicago Cubs, I repudiate any return to racially divisive issues in this year’s presidential campaign or in any setting — like my father has,” Tom Ricketts said in the statement. “I shall have no further comment on this or any other election year political issue. My full-time focus is on making the Chicago Cubs a World Series champion preserving Wrigley Field and making the Chicago Cubs a great corporate citizen.”

Ricketts’ statement came as Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whom Ricketts is trying to receive public funding for Wrigley Field from and is also Obama’s former chief of staff, blasted the proposed political attack on the president as an insult to the nation.

“I don’t think that’s fitting in a campaign of any nature,” Emanuel said, cautioning that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the Ricketts effort. “You can have disagreements without being disagreeable.”

Senate leaders had long opposed a repeal, saying the program granted important opportunities to young people who otherwise could not attend college. Investigations revealed, though, that some of the people who benefited were children of donors or other political insiders, as well as people who did not live in their districts — in violation of the rules of the program.

The Senate finally voted to end the controversial program on May 3, sending the matter to the House, which has voted repeatedly in the past to end the program.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Dave Dahl reports

The measure which finally came from the Senate includes a provision for a task force to study all tuition waivers, including those for children of faculty and staff at state universities. Virtually none of those discounts have generated the controversy the legislative program has.

“I have no problems with the task force,” said the House sponsor, State Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates). “But to imply that they’re all the same … is like saying a donkey and an elephant are the same because they have four legs and a tail. They’re two different animals.”

The proposal was approved by the House State Government Administration Committee on Thursday, sending it to the full House for a vote.

If approved by the House, as expected, the measure to eliminate the legislative scholarship program would go to Gov. Pat Quinn, who supports ending the program.

Rees, who turns 20 next week, is charged with one count of battery, two counts of resisting law enforcement and one count of illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor. South Bend police say Rees kneed a police officer in the chest after he ran from the party early May 3 after officers arrived.

The court appearance was brief, lasting less than a minute. Rees arrived shortly after 8:20 a.m., sat in the front row for several minutes before his attorney, George Horn, summoned him to appear before Magistrate Brian Steinke without his name being called. Rees didn’t speak during his appearance. He met briefly with Horn afterward in a room next to the court and they then left together without speaking to reporters.

Rees, who remains free on $250 bond, is due back in court July 17.

Linebacker Carlo Calabrese did not appear before Steinke as scheduled Thursday. Assistant prosecutor Andrew White said sometimes defendants e are allowed to have their attorneys appear in their place. He said he didn’t know why Calabrese didn’t appear. A telephone message seeking comment was left at the office of his attorney, Jeffrey Stesiak, by The Associated Press.

White said no plea was entered on Calabrese’s behalf. He is scheduled to be in court June 21.

Rees, who is from Lake Forest, Ill., is one of four quarterbacks vying for the starters’ job next season. He started 12 of 13 games as the Irish went 8-5 last season. Calabrese, who is from Verona, N.J., was a backup linebacker who played in every game last season after starting eight games as a sophomore during the 2010 season

Police said they went to the party several blocks from campus on the night classes ended after receiving complaints about a loud party. Police said Rees was among about five people who jumped a backyard fence and ran after officers arrived.

Police say an officer pursued Rees, continually telling him to stop, but Rees refused. Police say when Rees ran out into the street, a passing taxi driver maneuvered his car to block Rees’ path. Police say when the officer caught up, Rees used his right knee to hit the officer in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

Police say the taxi driver held Rees until the officer caught his breath. Police said Rees continued to struggle even after being knocked down and the officer used pepper spray to help subdue him.

Police say Calabrese became upset when he saw Rees was being arrested, ignored warnings to stay out of the street and twice old an officer: “My people will get you.”

Brian Hardin, Notre Dame’s director of football media relations, said football coach Brian Kelly would have no comment on Thursday’s court appearance. Kelly previously said he would withhold judgment until he could collect all the facts.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

Check out the incredibly entertaining interview and photo below.

LISTEN: Michael Irvin on The McNeil and Spiegel Show

For the rest of this interview and other 670 The Score interviews click here.

Michael Irvin. (Credit: The numbers guy, Nick Shepkowski.)

As WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports, ATF Special Agent Randall Dockens, 43, came to Chicago all the way from Fort Worth, Texas. His co-worker for the past seven years came with him.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports

“This is my canine partner Charlie,” Dockens said. “He’s one of ATF’s explosive detection canines.”

Charlie just turned 9 years old. He’s a black lab – and his claim to fame is his nose.

“He’s capable of detecting approximately 19,000 different explosive combinations,” Dockens said.

Dockens and Charlie got into Chicago – and their first assignment was checking out Wrigley Field. We caught up with them at McCormick Place.

“Our mission is to do whatever the Secret Service or the State Department need us to do, and that basically means employing Charlie’s nose anywhere in the city they think his nose needs to be,” Dockens said.

The ATF won’t say how many canine teams are here – but a spokesman says teams are in Chicago from all over the country.

WBBM Newsradio’s John Cody reports the demonstrators arrived with a letter for the president, calling for a swift end to the war in Afghanistan, but were denied admission to the building.

No representative came down to meet them, so they proceeded with their protest against the NATO summit, the war in Afghanistan, and the use of military drones for targeted killings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As one protester held up a cardboard drone, a dozen demonstrators laid down on Randolph Street, each wearing the name of a drone strike victim, pretending to be struck by the cardboard drone. Each “victim” called out the name of a drone strike casualty, then asked for an end to the use of targeted drone attacks.

At the conclusion, the group marched four abreast around the corner to carry their protest to the Canadian consulate, the British Consulate, and the German Consulate, carrying a pink banner reading “Stop Killer Drones.”

Obama has signed an agreement with Afghanistan to pull American troops out by the end of 2014. Details of that withdrawal will be discussed during the NATO summit.

SLIDESHOW: Protests Outside Obama HQ, Consulates

As WBBM Newsradio’s John Cody reports, Max Waisvisz, the founder of Gold Coast Tickets at 908 W. Madison St., says the Crosstown tickets just aren’t moving.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s John Cody reports

“Saturday and Sunday – well, I’m looking right now. I see 224, row 23, that’s right behind home plate; three of them in the lower deck. The regular face value on that is $54.88, and we’re selling it at 40 bucks each,” he said.

Waisvisz says Wrigley Field normally sells itself.

“I think the NATO has scared a lot of people for this Crosstown Classic, because they just don’t know if they make it down there,” Waisvisz said.

But converting lemons to lemonade, Waisvisz says it’s a great time to buy Crosstown Classic this weekend, since there will be great weather, tickets below face value, and lots of space on public transportation.

Pastoral announced earlier this week that in the fall, the 40-seat bistro Bar Pastoral will open at 2947 N. Broadway.

The cheese shop has operated next door at 2945 N. Broadway, in the same building, since 2004.

The owners of Pastoral say the new bistro will feature with hot and cold plates and other light menu items inspired by the cheese and charcuterie options at the adjoining store. There will also be creative cocktails with seasonal ingredients, and a selection of limited-distribution wines and craft beers.

The ambience will feature soothing tones, exposed brick and “roof-defining antiques from near and far,” according to Pastoral. Matt Nardella of Moss Design – who is also behind the interior at the 2 Sparrows brunch restaurant nearby on Diversey Parkway – will design the interior of Bar Pastoral.

Pastoral co-owner Greg O’Neill presented the proposal for the new cheese and wine bar concept to the South East Lake View Neighbors Association at the group’s meeting this past Monday. On the Facebook page for the organization, O’Neill said the concept received a “warm reception.”

The storefront at 2947 N. Broadway is currently occupied by the designed jewelry and handbag shop Spare Parts. It is separated from the Pastoral storefront by an entry door leading to the apartments on the upper stories of the building.

It has not been learned how Spare Parts will be affected by the new bistro.

Bar Pastoral is one of many new businesses that have either recently opened, or soon will, on Broadway between Belmont Avenue and Diversey Parkway. Some have met with warmer receptions than others.

Late last month, Wal-Mart confirmed that it has executed a lease for a store in the Broadway at Surf building, on the west side of Broadway just south of Surf Street. The retailer will open a Neighborhood Market store focused mostly on groceries in an operation that will combine three storefronts – two long-empty spaces once occupied by a Wolf Camera store and a PetSmart, and a third currently occupied by a Cost Plus World Market.

The World Market store is currently under liquidation, and is slated to close June 17 to make way for the Wal-Mart. Afterward, Wal-Mart will begin renovation of the space and plans to open early next year.

The planned Wal-Mart drew heated protests when rumors first spread about it back in December 2010. Neighbors have expressed concern that the Wal-Mart will drive the numerous small, independent stores along Broadway and nearby Diversey Parkway out of business, and permanently change the character of the neighborhood for worse.

But as it stands, independent businesses are booming along Broadway. In addition to Bar Pastoral, another bar and bistro – this one specializing in craft beer – will also be opening in the fall a short distance to the north.

Dryhop will open at 3155 N. Broadway, in a space that had been vacant since the Pleasure Chest adult store moved out in 2006. The upscale neighborhood restaurant will feature “moderately priced and locally sourced cuisine inspired by the culinary techniques of Western Europe.”

Nearby, a new Chicago outpost of the Los Angeles-based Laugh Factory comedy club opened earlier this year at 3175 N. Broadway, in the space vacated by the Lakeshore Theater in 2010.

Meanwhile, another new restaurant, Frog N Snail, recently opened at 3124 N. Broadway. The location had been occupied by Sura, a Thai bistro with spherical swings suspended from the ceiling, which closed last year.

Leading the boom in the new businesses on Broadway was a Hustler Hollywood adult store, which opened at 3161 N. Broadway last summer, in the other of the two storefronts in the building where Dryhop will open. Reckless Records had occupied the space before moving across the street a year earlier.

Also last summer, an older adult store that was a lone throwback to a seedier era closed a couple of blocks south. Adult Fantasy at 2928 N. Broadway, an old-fashioned adult bookstore with private video viewing booths, had operated under various names since the 1970s.

Adult Fantasy remains shuttered, with its old orange and black sign still hanging over the sidewalk. But in another storefront in the same building, entrepreneur Philip Tadros plans to open the new Bow & Truss coffee roasting house at 2934 N. Broadway, in a space that until recently had housed the headquarters of Tadros’ digital design agency.

In addition to its Broadway location, Pastoral cheese shop also operates a store at 53 E. Lake St. downtown, and at 131 N. Clinton St. in the Chicago French Market.

Alpana Singh, the host of the WTTW-Channel 11 program “Check Please,” reported earlier this year that she had been passing her time working as a cheesemonger at Pastoral, although she did not say which location.

(CBS) The baseball blue bloods are all getting ready to stick their noses high in the air.

The purity of the game and the sanctity of the pennant races is about to be attacked by the scourge that is interleague baseball.

I would like to take all of those blue bloods and provide them each with a wet sock that could be placed in their oral cavity. That way their self-serving meanderings could be rendered silent.

This is the 16th season of interleague competition and its always one of the highlights of the regular season. Games between American and National League teams were only played on the “What If” field prior to 1997, and it was was a breath of fresh air when the competition finally began when the San Francisco Giants ventured to Arlington, Texas to play the Rangers in June of 1997.

While interleague games don’t have the novelty aspect they once did, the competition between the two leagues still has a lot of significance. It’s not just the rivalry games between the Cubs and White Sox, Yankees and Mets, Cardinals and Royals, Indians and Reds, Orioles and Nationals, Rangers and Astros and Angels and Dodgers that matter. The non-rivalry games also have plenty of meaning as well.

There was a time when there was a real disdain between the two leagues. If you were Pete Rose, the idea of competing against American League teams would have been relished like a free bet on the Daily Double. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the National Leaguers believed in their heart of hearts that they were superior to the American Leaguers. They proved it nearly every year in the All-Star game. The National League had Rose, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal. The American League had Carl Yastrzemski, Brooks Robinson, Al Kaline, Denny McLain and Sam McDowell. The best player the American League had was former National Leaguer Frank Robinson. It was too one-sided to be a real competition in that era.

The National League dominated because their superstars were better. The National League was much quicker in signing black players and the American League suffered dramatically.

But somehow the American League was able to hold its collective head up during the World Series. By the mid-1960s, the Yankee dynasty was over, but teams like the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A’s allowed the American League to keep some measure of dignity.

The subject of interleague competition during the regular season would come up from time to time, but the conservative nature of the baseball leadership always kept it from taking hold.

That finally relented in the late 1990s. Interleague play gave baseball loyalists its best measuring tool of the strength of the two leagues. The All-Star game is not always hard fought and is often managed like an exhibition game. The World Series is not a big enough sample size. Interleague play offers about 250 games between the two leagues.

That’s a big enough number to settle the score. And in the last eight years, the edge has gone to the American League. The consistent domination has made it clear that the American League is superior, and perhaps by an even bigger margin than the National League held during the ‘60’s and ’70’s. The difference between the two leagues was probably the greatest in 2006, when American League teams went 154-98, winning more than 61 percent of the games.

There are some rough edges to interleague play. Competition is not always equal. The St. Louis Cardinals get to play the Kansas City Royals in two series every year and that seemingly gives them an advantage because the Royals have been non-competitive for so long. The Mets have to play the Yankees six times per season, and that’s a disadvantage.

But don’t listen to purists who would throw out the whole thing because of that one flaw. That would take away one of the most interesting aspects of the game.

One thing that should be changed: use the designated hitter in National League parks and let the pitchers bat in American League stadiums. Let each team’s fans see how the other half lives.

Interleague baseball may no longer be novel, but it is one of the most exciting aspects too regular-season baseball.

Don’t let the snobs ruin it for us.

Steve Silverman

Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman was with Pro Football Weekly for 10 years and his byline has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Playboy, NFL.com and The Sporting News. He is the author of four books, including Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Football — The Top 60 Players of All-Time. Follow him on Twitter (@profootballboy) and read more of his CBS Chicago columns here.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, cyber security experts say gatherings such as the NATO Summit tend to generate an increase in cyber attacks, whether from self-described anarchists, terrorist groups, anti-war groups, or others.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports

An FBI alert earlier in the month warned that cybercriminals are targeting people who use wireless service in hotels to set up their laptops. A pop-up window will appear asking a user to update some software, but clicking on the window results in the installation of malware, the FBI warned.

Expert Tom Kellermann of the Cupertino, Calif.-based Trend Micro cybersecurity firm tells the Chicago Sun-Times he has also seen an exponential increase in malicious software targeting smart phones and tablets.

Kellermann advises not telling the world your location via FourSquare, Facebook or any other social networking site, and making sure your anti-virus software is up to date, the Sun-Times reports.

Meanwhile, Crain’s Chicago Business reports cell phone companies are beefing up their capacity in the NATO zone.

AT&T, Sprint, U.S. Cellular and Verizon are among the companies that say they are ready for an increase in demand, Crain’s reports.

Experts also tell CBS 2 those in the NATO zone should prepare for accident cutoffs of electricity, and wireless voice and Internet communications.

Nothing happens till Saturday morning. That’s when the three-day ban on food and drink, backpacks, suitcases, boxes and other parcels takes effect on all 11 Metra commuter lines.

In addition, that is when the stations at 11th Street, 18th Street, McCormick Place, 27th Street and 47th Street on the Electric District will close through Monday night.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Roberts reports

The big service changes occur Monday, when 19 stations on the Electric District will close, including the entire Blue Island branch, although Metra Deputy Executive Director George Hardwidge said security will be tighter no matter what line you ride the next few days.

“With the resources we have available, we can accommodate what amounts to a full ridership and a full train schedule on Sunday,” Hardwidge said. “On Monday the ridership is much higher, there are many more trains, and the train schedule is much more complex.”

On Monday, the five stations closest to McCormick Place will remain closed, along with the entire Blue Island branch, four stations on the South Chicago branch, and stations between 63rd and 11th Streets on the Electric District main line — with the exception of 95th Street.

Metra announced Tuesday that the resources had been found to keep the 95th Street station open on Monday.

In addition, no trains scheduled to arrive inbound at Millennium Station terminal between 12:57 p.m. and 6:46 p.m. will operate on Monday. Outbound service on the Electric District Monday is expected to be normal all day, except on the Blue Island branch.

Metra is advising riders who have questions to call RTA Travel Information, at 836-7000 in all area codes, or to check Metra’s website for updated travel information.

Joe Ricketts is a registered independent, a fiscal conservative, and an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration, but he is neither the author nor the funder of the so-called “Ricketts Plan” to defeat Mr. Obama that The New York Times wrote about this morning. Not only was this plan merely a proposal – one of several submitted to the Ending Spending Action Fund by third-party vendors – but it reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take. Mr. Ricketts intends to work hard to help elect a President this fall who shares his commitment to economic responsibility, but his efforts are and will continue to be focused entirely on questions of fiscal policy, not attacks that seek to divide us socially or culturally.

State Sen. Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) sponsored the measure to require cities that use red light cameras to tack on one more second to yellow lights at “photo-enforced” intersections. Although the measure passed overwhelmingly in the Illinois Senate, it’s gone nowhere in the House.

Duffy said a Texas A&M study found longer yellow lights would reduce the number of accidents, but he said House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) is blocking the legislation.

“If it’s about revenue, then I think people in high positions here in Springfield should let us know the facts, and say that it’s about revenue, that they don’t want to cut the revenue,” Duffy said. “Again, there’s no facts to dispute adding one second of yellow time drastically improves safety at intersections.”

Duffy has said that several cities and towns in other states have implemented the system, and significantly improved safety as a result.

At the same time, implementing longer yellow lights elsewhere has also resulted in a reduction in the number of red light camera tickets.

After the measure passed the Senate in late March, it moved to the House, but has been stuck in the Madigan-controlled House Rules Committee ever since. While in Rules Committee, the legislation cannot be debated or called up for a House vote.

State Sen. Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein) said he also thinks the potential to reduce revenue from red light cameras could be the reason the proposal has stalled.

But Sullivan said increasing the time for every yellow light in Illinois — not just those at intersections with red light cameras — would be going too far.

“We don’t want to reinvent the wheel right now,” Sullivan said. “We have studies that show what it does. So that’s the first point. It’s safety. So that’s what we’re here for. We have other states that have done it already and are doing studies on how this has affected it.”

Sullivan said Madigan’s priorities are not right if he’s siding with keeping red light camera revenue flowing, rather than improving safety.

Critics of red light camera systems have said they are more about generating money for government coffers, rather than improving safety. Duffy said the whole red-light camera concept is about “nickel and diming people to death, every time they drive through an intersection.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office does not support Duffy’s idea.

“Lengthening yellow lights has adverse safety implications for drivers and pedestrians,” the mayor’s office said in a written statement earlier this year.

Duffy said “that’s mind-boggling.”

“Studies show that adding one second of yellow improves safety from 35 to 90 percent,” he claimed.

A recent study by a University of Illinois traffic expert studied 39 Chicago intersections with red-light cameras and found the number of accidents actually increased after they were installed.

The Chicago Tribune reports Watson underwent a procedure on both feet Thursday morning to relieve the the plantar fasciitis he played through this season.

“It was hard,” Watson told the newspaper about playing through it. “I couldn’t do all the things that I’m usually capable of doing. But I knew with Derrick (Rose) out, I had to give the team what I could.”

This is the second straight offseason Watson has had work done on his feet to address the issue.

And when Friday comes around, it’s time to take off the jacket and put on the sandals and shorts, because the temperature will climb to the 80s again.

CBS 2 Meteorologist Ed Curran says as of 11:20 a.m., it was 68 degrees at O’Hare International Airport, 66 at Midway, and 63 at the lakefront.

A wind of 5 to 10 mph from the southeast is keeping temperatures cooler by the lake, where it will remain in the 60s. But elsewhere, temperatures will climb to 73 degrees.

You will need a jacket for the Cubs game Thursday evening, as the temperature will only be 59 degrees at the time of the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. An east wind over the lake of 10 mph will keep the temperatures down.

Overnight, the low drops to 55 degrees, but on Friday, the wind will shift to blow in from the due south, and will no longer carry the chill of the lake.

For Friday, the high climbs to a balmy 83 degrees, followed by 86 on Saturday, 85 on Sunday, 75 on Monday, 72 on Tuesday and 78 on Wednesday.

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The Bulls, however, would seemingly rather have Deng rest and take the necessary measures to heal his wrist properly. While some in London understand the Bulls stance on the subject, the general feeling is that Great Britain needs Deng’s services.

“The simple fact is that he’s so integral to this team, to this organization, even though he didn’t play in the first years that the GB team was formed,” Ian Whittle of The Times of London told The Mully and Hanley Show. “Luol couldn’t played that first year, but he turned up to town. He recruited guys and said, ‘Look, I’m going to play. You come along and play. This is going to be genuinely world-caliber program.’ He’s been good to his word. He’s played every year he could. I don’t think it’s enough for him to turn up, carry a flag, wave towels on the bench. From a purely selfish point of view, we need him, while understanding the complex issues of the Bulls needing him also and paying him a very large salary.”

LISTEN: Ian Whittle on The Mully and Hanley Show

For the rest of this interview and other 670 The Score interviews click here.

Deng, a native of Sedan, moved to Egypt when Sedan broke out in a civil war before Great Britain welcomed his family in. In 2006, Deng became a British citizen. As a result, the small forward feels as if he owes this to Great Britain.

“It’s a phenomenally complex issue,” Whittle said. “I can be as patriotic as I want and wear the red, white and blue of GB and say, ‘He should come and play, he owes us a debt.’ He’s spoken about owning this country a debt, but the simple fact is that sport is big business. He knows that, we know that and the GB coach Chris Finch knows that. Ultimately, the Chicago Bulls pay his salary. Great Britain doesn’t, anymore. It really is a tough situation and I don’t think there is a simple answer to it.”

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, Mike McConnell of the American Friends Service Committee has been a peace activist since he began protesting against the Vietnam War in 1967. He say he expects 10,000 or so demonstrators to take part in a peace march against the NATO Summit Sunday – with the emphasis on peace.

“We’ve been doing nonviolent training, and there’s been peacekeeping training, so that people are prepared to handle potentially conflictual situations,” he said.

Despite many people not wanting to be anywhere near the summit and its associated protests on Sunday, McConnell encourages entire families to show up.

“We want this to be a place where children can learn about their First Amendment rights by directly experiencing it,” McConnell said, “not just in a textbook.”

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports

WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, through the end of the summit, parking will have been banned on many Chicago streets as part of the security measures put into place by the city and the Secret Service.

It’s unclear exactly how many metered spots have been taken out, but “Parking Ticket Geek” Mike Brockway, who runs The Expired Meter website, said the city’s contract with Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, is clear.

“If meters are closed for more than three hours, or more than six hours over a period of three days, then it’s considered a closure,” Brockway said.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports

In that event, the company must be compensated for lost revenue. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has disputed previous bills from the company for revenue lost from street festivals, parades, and other events, as well as from people who park for free with disabled parking placards.

But Brockway said, “I don’t think he has a leg to stand on. The contract is very clear.”

“Very high-priced lawyers on both sides looked over it, and what’s funny is the city actually documents a lot of these closures to begin with. I mean, the CDOT website has a running documentation of all street closures,” Brockway added.

That means there’s quite a paper trail when streets with metered parking are closed.

The mayor might be able to shift the cost to the NATO host committee, or the Secret Service if it mandated the street closures.

Either way, Brockway said someone will have to foot the bill.

No one’s figured out yet how much that might amount to for the NATO summit, but, Brockway suspects it will easily reach six figures.

Avis Lavelle, a spokeswoman for the parking meter company, told WBBM Newsradio it has no comment on the matter.

Earlier this month, Emanuel said he had rejected a $14 million invoice from the parking meter firm for revenue lost over the first nine months of 2011, due to road repairs, street festivals, and other events.

“Just because you send a bill, I’m not going to ask taxpayers to pay it,” Emanuel said at the time. “It’s a new day here.”

Emanuel has said all along the meter deal was a bad deal, and he is examining it.

The company has also sent the city a $13.5 million bill for lost revenue from drivers who use disabled parking placards to get free parking. That bill is in arbitration.

The company billed the city nearly $1.7 million for lost revenue in 2010, and more than $533,000 for lost revenue in 2009.

(CBS) The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, will be contested at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday. Six colts who ran in the Kentucky Derby will return for the Preakness including the top two finishers, I’ll Have Another and Bodemeister. Also returning are the fourth and fifth place finishers, Went the Day Well and Creative Cause, as well as also-rans, Daddy Nose Best and Optimizer. The remainder of the field will be made up of unproven colts and minor stakes winners that would be a shock should they come anywhere near a winner’s circle on Saturday.

In recent years, the Preakness has been the most predictable of the Triple Crown races with only three winners since 2000 paying more than $10 for a $2 win bet. During that same period the Kentucky Derby has had eleven win payouts over $10 and the Belmont Stakes has had nine. Another thing to consider is colts that compete in the Derby tend to win the Preakness. Since 1997, only three Preakness winners did not run in the Derby. If the trends hold, the winner of this year’s Preakness will be one of the six that ran in the Derby and will go off at odds of less than 4-to-1.

Here is a closer look at the eleven who will line up for the 2012 Preakness Stakes:

Bodemeister
Morning Line Odds: 8-5
While I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby, more attention is being paid to second place finisher Bodemeister. In fact, Bodemeister was made the morning line favorite in this year’s Preakness. From a pace perspective, he ran one of the most impressive Kentucky Derbys in history. He set a blistering pace and only lost by a length and a half. In perusing the past performances of the field for the Preakness, there are no other colts with early speed so Bodemeister should have an easier time of it on the lead. This anticipated pace scenario makes him the one to beat when the gates open on Saturday.

I’ll Have Another
Morning Line Odds: 5-2
I’ll Have Another, the second choice on the morning line, has been perfect in 2012 and enters the Preakness as the only one with a shot at sweeping the Triple Crown. He shipped to Pimlico soon after his Derby win and reports from the scene say he has trained brilliantly over the track. In looking at his past performances, he has the ability to press a fast pace, so watch for him to run close to pacesetter Bodemeister from the start. The question is: Will he have what it takes to make the lead if Bodemesiter is able to set a more reasonable pace in the Preakness?

Went the Day Well
Morning Line Odds: 6-1
While Bodemeister has received all the attention for his valiant but losing effort in the Derby, Went the Day Well also ran a tremendous race to finish fourth. In only his fifth career start, he ran into trouble early in the race and around the first turn. Jockey John Velazquez had to check twice, literally pull back on the reins, when other horses cut into his path. He was eighteen lengths from the leaders with only three beaten when they turned into the backstretch. Just a few hundred yards from the finish, he was moving as fast as any horse in the field, and ended up only two and a half lengths away from the winner in the end. He will get a better trip in the Preakness and could be in a prime position to make a winning move in the stretch.

Creative Cause
Morning Line Odds: 6-1
The California-based Creative Cause is as game a race horse as any among this year’s 3-year-olds. He showed his class in the Derby making it to third in the deep stretch before being passed by Went the Day Well and Dullahan. He finished fifth just three lengths behind the winner. He will run well in the Preakness, as he always does, but it’s hard to figure him turning the tables on the three that finished in front of him in the Derby.

Teeth of the Dog
Morning Line: 15-1
Teeth of the Dog is the lone entry that did not run in the Derby with a chance to fill out the bottom of trifecta and superfecta tickets. He made his graded stakes debut in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial where he finished third at odds of 53-to-1. He comes into this race as a mystery but his trainer Michael Matz has no reason to embarrass himself with an entry in the Preakness that can’t run.

Daddy Nose Best
Morning line: 12-1
After emerging as many racing pundit’s longshot pick leading up to the Kentucky Derby, he ran mid-pack throughout and finished a disappointing tenth. Should he revert to the form he flashed in winning the Sunland Derby in March, he has a chance to fill out the bottom of exotic tickets but he seems a step below the top contenders.

Zetterholm
Morning Line: 20-1
Zetterholm has won three of five career races but all of his wins have come in races restricted to horses bred in New York. The Preakness is a monumental jump in class and it’s hard to comprehend him being competitive against this group.

Optimizer, Cozzetti, Tiger Walk, Pretension
Morning Line: 30-1
The four colts listed on the morning line at 30-1 are all deserving longshots in this year’s field of eleven.

Betting the 2012 Preakness

Knowing the lack of early speed in the race, watch for jockey Mario Gutierrez aboard I’ll Have Another to run close behind Bodemeister from the start. With those two clocking what is sure to be a swift pace on the front-end, look for Went the Day Well to put himself in a stalking position behind the leaders and make a big move to run by them both in the stretch. Creative Cause is the pick to round out the bottom of the superfecta but it might be worthwhile to play some exotic tickets with Teeth of the Dog as well.

1) Went the Day Well
2) I’ll Have Another
3) Bodemeister
4) Creative Cause

For more information, visit the Hello Race Fans Preakness page. For a quick summary for all of this year’s contenders, check out the HRF Preakness Cheat Sheet.

Kevin Martin is the founder of the thoroughbred racing history site Colin’s Ghost and a contributing editor at Hello Race Fans.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority expected to lose about 6 percent of drivers after the toll increase went into effect on Jan. 1.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports

But now, the agency reports the system experienced only a 2.4 percent drop in car traffic for the first three months of this year, according to the Daily Herald.

The newspaper quotes tollway executive director Kristi LaFleur as saying the authority has performed better than anticipated.

Meanwhile, more truckers drove the toll roads during the first quarter – a nearly 7 percent jump, the Daily Herald reported. Truck tolls don’t go up until 2015.

Because of the higher tolls, the system has increased revenue to $224 million, compared to the $157 million the tollway took in during the same period last year.

As of Jan.1, the 40-cent basic rate toll for I-Pass users – unchanged since 1983 – went up to 75 cents. Drivers who paid cash saw their 80 cent toll go up to $1.50.

Other toll plazas now cost even more. For example, the Waukegan Toll Plaza on I-94 now costs $1.40 (I-Pass) and $2.80 (cash).

An interest group, Taxpayers United of America, filed a lawsuit last year seeking to block the increases by challenging the Toll Highway Authority’s right to charge tolls at all. The group said when the tollways were created in 1953, they were supposed to be turned into freeways within 20 years once the original bonds to fund construction were paid off.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit in December.

CBS 2′s Susanna Song reports hotels playing host to NATO dignitaries are preparing for 10 delegations expected to arrive in Chicago on Thursday.

By the end of the week, thousands of NATO summit participants will be in Chicago.

The flags are flying on the Magnificent Mile, including several boasting the NATO emblem.

Chicago is the first city in the U.S. – other than Washington, D.C. – to host a NATO summit. It’s a pretty big deal, and many tourists are glad it’s here.

“I think it’s good for Chicago, and the surrounding areas, and it’ll be kind of neat to see,” said Thomas Steir of Des Moines.

“It’s a very welcoming town. We’ve been very welcomed by people. It’s easy to walk, it’s easy to get around. People have been great here. It’s beautiful,” said Kim Brophy, of Boston.

At the Hyatt Regency Chicago on Wacker Drive, Amisha Patel was getting ready Thursday morning to meet with journalists who have arrived for the summit.

“I think it’s starting to build, that folks are starting to come into town,” Patel said. “We’ve got Reuters, we’ve got BBC.”

Patel is part of a community labor coalition in Chicago that is offering national and foreign journalists an inside look at Chicago.

“We’re doing a tour for journalists, who are in town for NATO, to get a chance to actually leave the downtown area, get a sense of what’s happening in neighborhoods across the city.”

The InterContinental Chicago hotel on Michigan Avenue is one of several accommodating NATO guests.

General Manager Raymond Vermolan said, “We want to make sure that our guests get informed on where to go, and where they can expect traffic maybe some traffic delays – and of course keeping them informed is really important – and then bringing in extra culinary staff, from other locations, to make sure that we cater to the visitors.”

Some of their guests are coming from all over the world.

“We’re one of the few hotels that has a wireless technology – badges that our staff have, that they can instantly get translations for our guests, which is special,” he said.

O’Hare International Airport also will be a busy place Thursday and throughout the weekend, as more NATO participants arrive.

The host committee said hundreds of Chicagoans have volunteered to welcome the visitors.

McCormick Place
Sunday, May 13, 2012

Street parking will be prohibited beginning at 6 a.m., Sunday, May 13, until 11 p.m. Monday, May 21, at the following location:

East and West sides of S. Indiana Avenue between Cermak Road and E. 24th Place

Tuesday, May, 15, 2012

Street parking will be prohibited beginning at 6 a.m., Tuesday, May 15 until 11 p.m., Tuesday, May 22 at the following locations:

East and west sides of S. Calumet Avenue between E. Cullerton Street and E. Cermak Road
East and west sides of S. Prairie Avenue between E. 21st Street and E. 25th Street
East and west sides of S. Indiana Avenue between E. 21st Street and E. 25th Street
North and south sides of E. 21st Street between S. Calumet Avenue and S. Indiana Avenue
North and south sides of E. Cermak Road from S. Indiana Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive
North and south sides of E. 24th Place between S. Indiana Avenue and S. State Street
North and south sides of E. 25th Street between S. State Street and Martin Luther King Drive
East and west sides of Martin Luther King Drive between E. Cermak Road and E. 26th Street

Saturday, May 19, 2012 – Monday, May 21, 2012

Road closures and pedestrian restrictions will be implemented beginning at midnight, Saturday, May 19 (Friday midnight into Saturday). The affected roadways will open for evening rush hour on Monday, May 21:

Northbound and southbound Lake Shore Drive between E. Balbo Avenue and E. 39th Street
Northbound and southbound Interstate 55 between I-90/94 to Lake Shore Drive
Northbound and southbound S. Columbus Drive at E. Balbo Avenue
Eastbound and westbound E. Roosevelt Road between S. Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive
Northbound and southbound S. Indiana Avenue between E. 21st Street and E. 25th Street
Northbound and southbound S. Calumet Avenue between E. Cullerton Street and E. Cermak Road
Northbound and southbound S. Prairie Avenue between E. 21st Street and E. 25th Street
Eastbound and westbound E. 21st Street between S. Indiana Avenue and S. Calumet Avenue
Eastbound and westbound E. Cermak Road between S. Michigan Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive
Westbound E. 24th Place between Martin Luther King Drive and S. State Street
Eastbound E. 25th Street between S. State Street and Martin Luther King Drive
Northbound and southbound S. Wabash Avenue between E. 24th Place and E. 25th Street
Northbound and southbound Martin Luther King Drive between E. 26th Street and E. Cermak Road
Northbound and southbound Moe Drive between E. 31st Street and Mines Drive
Eastbound and westbound E. 31st Street between S. Cottage Grove and Fort Dearborn Drive
Northbound and southbound Fort Dearborn Drive between E. 31st Street and Lakeside Center

Northern Museum Campus

Adler Planetarium, Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium are scheduled to be open for business with limited parking on Saturday, May 19. Parking lots open on Saturday include the top three floors of Soldier Field North Lot and the Adler Planetarium parking lot. All parking lots will close at 5:30 p.m. following the closure of museums. If vehicles are still in lots they will be towed from the campus to an off-site city lot.

As of 6 p.m. Saturday evening, May 19, the Northern Museum Campus to include Northerly Island will be closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic. All pedestrians and vehicles still on the campus at that time will be permitted to exit at the intersection of Columbus Drive and Roosevelt Road.

Saturday, May 19, 2012 – 6 a.m. until 6 p.m.

The following roads will be closed:

Museum Campus Drive between McFetridge Drive and 18th Street
E. Waldron Drive between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
18th Street between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
Lake Shore Drive between McFetridge Drive and McCormick Center (Street closure will merge with McCormick Center street closures.)
Eastbound and westbound E. Roosevelt Road between S. Indiana Avenue and S. Lake Shore Drive

Street parking will be prohibited at the following locations:

East and west side of N. Museum Campus Drive between McFetridge Drive and 18th Street
North and south side of E. Waldron Drive between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
North and south side of 18th Street between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
East and westbound E. Roosevelt Road between S. Indiana Avenue and S. Lake Shore Drive

The following parking lots will be closed to museum campus patrons:

Field Museum east parking lot
South portion of Adler Planetarium parking lot
First floor of Soldier Field North Lot
Waldron Lot and Soldier Field South Lot

Saturday, May 19, 2012 – 6 p.m. until Sunday, May 20 at midnight (Sunday midnight into Monday)

The following roads will be closed:

Museum Campus Drive between E. Solidarity Drive and 18th Street
E. Waldron Drive between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
18th Street between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
Northbound and southbound Lake Shore Drive between E. Balbo Avenue and McCormick Center (Street closure will merge with McCormick Center street closures)
E. McFetridge Drive between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
S. Columbus Drive between E. Balboa Drive and E. McFetridge Drive
Eastbound and westbound E. Roosevelt Road between S. Indiana Avenue and S. Lake Shore Drive

Street parking will be prohibited at the following locations:

East and west side of N. Museum Campus Drive between E. Solidarity Drive and 18th Street
North and south side of E. Waldron Drive between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
North and south side of 18th Street between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
North and south side of McFetridge Drive between S. Lake Shore Drive and Museum Campus Drive
North and south side of eastbound and westbound Solidarity Drive between Museum Campus Drive and Adler Planetarium turnabout.

The following parking lots will be closed:

Field Museum east parking lot
Adler Planetarium parking lot
Soldier Field North Lot (all floors)
Waldron Lot and Soldier Field South Lot

Willis Tower

On Saturday, May 19, 2012, there will be intermittent road closures starting at 6 p.m. at:

S. Franklin Street between W. Adams Street and W. Jackson Boulevard
In addition, the street closure that already exists due to construction on W. Adams Street (north side of Willis Tower) and S. Upper Wacker Drive (west side of Willis Tower) will be in effect.

No street parking will be allowed beginning at 2 p.m., Saturday, May 19 until midnight, Sunday, May 20 (Saturday midnight going into Sunday).

North and south side of Adams Street on north side of Willis Tower
North and south side of Jackson Boulevard between Franklin and Wacker Drive
East and west side of Franklin Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard

Chicago Cultural Center & Art Institute of Chicago

No street parking will be allowed beginning at 2 p.m., Saturday, May 19 until midnight, Sunday, May 20 (Saturday midnight into Sunday):

East and west sides of Wabash Avenue between Lake Street and Washington Street
North and south sides of Randolph Street between Michigan Avenue and Wabash Avenue
North and south sides of E. Washington Street between Wabash Avenue and Michigan Avenue
West side of Michigan Avenue between E. Randolph Street and E. Jackson Drive
North and south sides of E. Monroe Street between S. Michigan Avenue and S. Columbus Drive

Beginning at midnight, Sunday, May 20 (Saturday midnight into Sunday) the following road will be closed until 11 p.m.:

E. Monroe Street between S. Michigan Avenue and S. Columbus Drive

Beginning at 4 p.m, Sunday, May 20, until 11 p.m., the following roads will be closed:

Garland Court between Madison Street and Randolph Street

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, there will be intermittent road closures starting at 6 p.m.

Northbound/southbound Michigan Avenue between E. Randolph Street and Jackson Drive
Jackson Drive between Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive
S. Columbus Drive between E. Monroe Street and E. Jackson Drive

Marina/Waterway Restrictions

The public will see an increased U.S. Coast Guard presence on the water during the NATO Summit. The Coast Guard’s initiatives are one of the many layers of increased security during the summit. The Coast Guard will continue to perform its standard missions of search and rescue and law enforcement in addition to their homeland security responsibilities.

The following maritime security zone will be effective and enforced 24 hours a day between 8 a.m. on May 18, 2012, and 8 a.m. on May 22, 2012:

Security Zone A – Security Zone A encompasses all U.S. navigable waters, facilities, and shoreline within the arc of a circle with a 2000-yard radius of the Burnham park boat ramp with its center point located in the approximate position 41º51’37″N, 087º36’44″W.[DATUM: NAD 83].
Security Zones B, C, and D, effective between 8 a.m. on May 18, 2012, and 8 a.m. on May 22, 2012, will have fewer restrictions than Zone A. Commercial and recreational traffic will be allowed access to these areas unless security measures need to be temporarily implemented.
Security Zone B – Security Zone B encompasses all U.S. navigable waters, facilities, and shoreline within the arc of a circle with a 2000-yard radius of the outer most tip of the Chicago lock with its center point located in the approximate position 41º53’19″N, 087º36’17″W.[DATUM: NAD 83].
Security Zone C – Security Zone C encompasses all U.S. navigable waters of the Chicago River between the Western Gate of the Chicago Controlling Works Lock which is located in approximate position 41º53’18″N, 087º36’28″W. [DATUM: NAD 83] and the juncture of the north and south branches of the Chicago River which is located in approximate position 41º53’11″N, 087º38’15″W. [DATUM: NAD 83]
Security Zone D – Security Zone D encompasses all U.S. navigable waters of the south branch of the Chicago River between Mile Markers 245.0 and 276.0. [DATUM: NAD 83].

Concerned maritime traffic can contact the Coast Guard Captain of the Port Representative via VHF-FM Channel 16.

All City of Chicago owned or operated bridges over the Main, South and North Branches of the Chicago River will be closed to masted navigation between 7 a.m. on May 18, 2012 through 7 a.m. on May 21, 2012.
Commuter Rail Lines and Public Transit

Commuter rail lines in Chicago will not be closed to riders during the NATO Summit. However, passengers should plan for delays as trains approach and pass through the McCormick Place stop due to necessary security measures.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, Stroger Hospital of Cook County and University of Chicago Medicine say they are set up with decontamination tents or trailers should there be any bioterrorist act.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports

U of C Medicine vice president of risk management Krist Curell tells Crain’s Chicago Business that what the university has heard from hospitals in other host cities is that “walking well” patients will show up at their doorstep – that is, people who think they have been decontaminated by something, but have not been.

Anyone who believes he or she has been contaminated by some biological material will be decontaminated before being taken into the hospital building itself.

Stroger Hospital will set up decontamination tents outside the hospital, but county health officials expect that the medics on site mostly will be treating such problems as exhaustion, dehydration and bumps and bruises, Crain’s reported.

The Cook County health system is also the host hospital for the summit and will assume “first responder” duties, spokeswoman Marisa Kollias told Crain’s.

Meanwhile, the U of C will set up a command center at 7 a.m. Saturday, which will be staffed around the clock through 7 a.m. Tuesday, Crain’s reported.

(CBS) I was fortunate to be raised in a home that didn’t really condone such ignorance.

Sure, there was the occasional bad word that would slip from my dad in times of frustration. Usually in the car was when it would happen most.

But no ill-will toward them was fostered. My aunt on my mom’s side of the family married one, so I grew up around them. Just growing up on the South Side meant growing up among a lot of them. We played together, went to school together. I ate in their homes and they in mine.

There was no animosity toward them when I was very young. I actually sort of liked them even though I knew I wasn’t really one of them.

The real test of will came just before adolescence when I started hearing it from some of my friends. I was naïve like any other youngster, and I was certainly susceptible to peer pressure. So because I just had to be “cool,” I engaged in it.

Blind hatred. Irrational because there was no justified reasoning for it. It was just something that was expected when hanging out with my buddies at Kennedy Park on weekend nights sweating curfew.

When high school rolled around and my circle of friends broadened, I encountered guys from other neighborhoods and suburbs. The Mt. Greenwood, Canaryville, and Bridgeport guys were far more rabid about it. Unwavering in their ideology, really. Of course, when I met their parents I concluded that there really wasn’t a chance of those guys turning out any different or being able to be reasoned with.

My Oak Lawn and Evergreen Park pals were more subtle about it. “Polite,” if you will. But it was certainly in them. Just less vocal and less abrasive, I guess.

It was because of my friends that my prejudice grew. I’m not trying to pass the buck—it was always my choice, and I was in control of my words and emotions at all times. But I fell into it because it was easier to… embrace it, I guess you might call it.

And could you really blame me? I mean, to hear it over and over to the point that it just burns into your brain. It made me feel good to put others down and to do anything and everything to make myself and my people superior. I was filling one of the most basic needs of the human psyche.

It’s not like I chose what I was, at least not any more than a kid “chooses” to speak English or “chooses” the religious faith he’s brought up in. But that mattered not to those casting the slings and arrows of such outrageous fortune.

“They” were downright mean to me. I’d be attacked unprovoked, hit with a litany of slurs and warped logic as to why I was somehow “bad” or “wrong” for something that was more or less out of my control. Can a man control what his father is and, therefore, what he himself is?

So what had started as mere acceptance and turned to tolerance at best and indifference at worst festered into loathing. I could only be so nice for so long. They became second-class citizens in my eyes. Inherently less intelligent. Dirtier.

I would often become the aggressor, seizing any opportunity to belittle one of them. If I saw them on TV I’d automatically make some uncalled for remark as so many salty tavern patrons are wont to do.

That was not a shining period in my life.

It wasn’t until college—that bastion of open-mindedness and free thinking—that I saw the error of my ways. It was in a bar, and I made some off-color remark at what I saw on TV, hoping to get a chuckle from those around me. A stranger approached me, one of “us” I could tell, though I didn’t know him, and asked, “Was that really necessary?”

I’d be lying if I said I have ever been much of a fighter, though I decided that this guy wasn’t much of a physical threat (especially with my liquid courage). So I countered with another dumb joke, but this time directed at him.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” he replied. “You make no sense.”

He then began to question me on the rationale for my hatred, and I found myself unable to come up with any answers that didn’t sound blatantly bigoted or just plain illogical. This guy then started talking about how “they” had no effect on me, that there was nothing about them that made my people better or worse, that only those with whom I identified could change their situation for the better.

The conversation was fairly brief because I was trying to save what I thought was dignity by being sarcastic, and he gave up trying with me quickly and walked away shaking his head. I was angry, but not so much with him as with the beginning of the realization that I might be wrong in my ethos. Little did he know that he instilled a spark in me that wouldn’t go away.

It nagged at me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Could I really have lived so long in such a stupid manner? Could my friends all be idiots? I began to rationalize it all.

After much soul searching and application of—wait for it—logic, I decided I had been a fool. What did hating the White Sox accomplish? They had no bearing on the Cubs save but six games a year. I should hate the Padres and Phillies if six games made a mortal enemy. Hell, at least they were in the National League.

I became a reborn Chicago baseball fan. My heart was with the Cubs as it had always been, but no longer did I root against the Sox, a team in another league with a DH that had its own specific battles to fight. Realizing that the two teams had really no bearing on one another was so refreshing. A weight of idiotic preoccupation was lifted from my shoulders.

I took the White Sox for exactly what they were. When they were good, I praised their work. When they were bad, I was just as honest. I wasn’t for them or against them. They were the Blue Jays to me from then on and still are today. When the Sox won the World Series in 2005, I was genuinely happy for my cheering friends.

My assessment of the Cubs in subsequent years was better honed as well. No longer did the comeback “Well, they have a better record than the Sox” come out of my mouth. The Crosstown series was now immediate and finite, not lasting, and regardless of who took the series, the season as a whole was all that mattered.

This made me a better baseball fan, too. Watching Sox games with no emotional investment allowed me to learn more about baseball and (with no pun intended) appreciate the game. Actual analysis began to overtake “Haha, he sucks” and “I hope Frank Thomas gets struck by lightning full of hepatitis C during this at bat.”

More importantly, I now had reason. Blind hatred has no reason, no logic, and no intelligence. And that’s what Cubs fans hating the White Sox and Sox fans hating the Cubs is—blind hatred. It’s that ignorant feeding of the ego I long made the mistake of doing, the quick fix that has no tangible benefit. For many, too, it’s the unwillingness to accept that one’s parents who taught them to hate might be fools.

I’ve since preached all this to those still in the dark on both sides of town. Most respond like I did in that college bar. I can only hope that a spark grows inside of them and eventually they see the light. I associate with “them” now and enjoy for the most part having lively debates, and in the end I make sure to put aside our differences and appreciate our commonality—a love of baseball.

So let’s all hope for two fun series this weekend and in June. I’ll be pulling for the boys in blue, but these six games will neither define either team nor establish any group superiority. It’s just baseball.

The Cardinals and their fans still suck, though.

Tim Baffoe

Tim Baffoe attended the University of Iowa and Governors State University and began blogging at The Score after winning the 2011 Pepsi Max Score Search. He enjoys writing things about stuff, but not so much stuff about things. When not writing for 670TheScore.com, Tim corrupts America’s youth as a high school English teacher and provides a great service to his South Side community delivering pizzas (please tip him and his colleagues well). You can follow Tim’s inappropriate brain droppings on Twitter @Ten_Foot_Midget, but please don’t follow him in real life. E-mail him at tenfootmailbag@gmail.com. To read more of Tim’s blogs click here.

As WBBM Newsradio’s David Roe reports, the bill that moved out of committee by a vote of 9-5 Wednesday would increase the state’s current minimum wage of $8.25 per hour by about 50 cents an hour every year until it reaches $10.55 per hour.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s David Roe reports

That number matches the buying power of the minimum wage in 1968, when it was $1.60 per hour.

After reaching $10.55, the minimum wage would go up by the cost of inflation every year.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Chicago) is the sponsor of the proposal, S.B. 1565, and said more work is needed before it becomes law. She says the bill is still being negotiated.

Opponents say the increase would force businesses to cut hours and employees.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Here’s a picture of the former MVP of the NBA, Derrick Rose, using a walker as he’s escorted to his car.

Derrick Rose. (Credit: Twitter)

We all know Ron Artest Metta World Peace is an idiot, but this news station actually said it.

Check out the photo below.

Credit: Tim Baffoe

The Celtics captain put in 24 points in Boston’s 101-91 Game 3 victory over the 76ers in Philadelphia, putting his knee injury behind him and getting aggressive when it came to pretty much every aspect of the game.

“Whether I shot the ball well or not, everything I was going to do was being with aggression,” Pierce said.

Aggressive might be an understatement. Pierce was in attack mode early on, even if his shots weren’t falling. Early in the first quarter, he missed four shots from close range, but it was the fact he fought for the three put-backs in the paint that showed he was determined to make a difference after scoring just seven points in Boston’s Game 2 loss.

He continued to go strong to the basket, following up his early misses with two ferocious dunks. Pierce finishing with nine points in the first 12 minutes of the game. He ended up hitting six of his 17 attempts from the floor, but did most of his damage at — and getting to — the free throw line. After just two trips to the charity stripe on Monday, Pierce found his way to the line 14 times in Game 3, scoring 11 of his points at the line.

Special Coverage: NBA Playoffs

He made it known to all of Philly when he was making his way to the line, following each drive to the hoop with an aggressive scream that would make Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” jealous.

“Everything I was going to do was going to be aggressive because they were really collapsing on me on the down-screens, on my jumpers,” said Pierce. “I just tried to get to the hole and I was able to get to the line; able to get to the rim a number of times. It’s something I have to continue to do.”

“Paul is just a grinder,” head coach Doc Rivers said following the win. “He really is. You look at him at times and you wonder, ‘How is this guy getting open?’ He just has great fundamentals. He never does it with speed. He just knows how to play basketball. He’s a throwback guy, that he knows how to play basketball. We jokingly call him our ‘professional scorer’ and that’s what he is in a lot of ways.”

“[Pierce] played great for us tonight,” said point guard Rajon Rondo, who scored 23 points of his own while dishing out 14 assists. “Paul has been struggling scoring, but he has been doing the intangibles. On those [first-quarter] drives, he didn’t get some calls early in the game and thought they were fouls, so he went out and was aggressive and finished strong.”

Recap: Thunder Go Up 2-0 On Lakers

Pierce had been just 5-for-20 in the series in the first two games, but helped the Celtics send a message as they took a 2-1 series lead. While he only added four assists, he credited the team’s ball movement for getting the offense going.

“Our offense finally came alive,” Pierce said. “We moved the ball. We knew that’s what we were going to have to do to score 100 points.”

“We just wanted to come out and establish who we are as a team,” Pierce said.

They certainly did that. Now they just need to keep it going on Friday night.

According to a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the winning Mega Millions ticket was bought by a group of workers at the Pita Pan bakery in Chicago Heights. But two workers claim they are being cheated out of their share of the dough.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports

Jose Franco and Marco Medina say they weren’t at work the day 12 of their fellow employees kicked in for the pool. But they say they were part of the group that had won $9 dollars on a lottery game earlier that week, and that money was rolled over for the May 4th Mega Millions.

So they are suing to be included as winners of the $118 million pot. Their lawyer, Erron Fisher, says his clients are hurt.

“Money does strange things to people. My clients would like to be celebrating with the winning people, not taking them to court,” he said.

If the jackpot is split 14 rather than 12 ways, the difference for each winner is about $1 million.

Box Score | Playoffs Schedule

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder scored the final nine points to rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

Oklahoma City trailed by seven with 2 minutes left before surging back with a series of defensive stops by its stars to take a 2-0 lead.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points apiece for the Lakers, who came up empty on their last six possessions after Bynum’s hook shot made it 75-68 with 2:09 remaining.

Game 2 Photo Gallery (Photo:Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

After struggling throughout the second half, the Thunder suddenly came alive after Scott Brooks called timeout following Bynum’s basket that gave Los Angeles its largest lead of the game.

James Harden drove for a layup before Durant used his height advantage to reach up and tip away a pass from Bryant, who he was guarding. Durant ran out for a right-handed dunk at the other end before Russell Westbrook forced another turnover by aggressively challenging an outlet pass to Bryant along the sideline.

Harden made the next stop, blocking Bryant’s jumper on the next Lakers possession and getting a layup in transition off it to cut the deficit to one in the final minute.

Bryant couldn’t connect again, this time on a 3-pointer, to give the Thunder the ball back with the chance to take the lead and Durant was able to make it happen.

Steve Blake missed a 3-pointer from the right side with about 5 seconds left after Metta World Peace couldn’t get the ball to Bryant on the inbounds play. Durant was then fouled with 0.3 seconds left and made his first try before missing the second on purpose – failing to hit the backboard or rim for a violation.

The Lakers got a desperation try but World Peace’s long pass for Bynum was intercepted by Harden.

Westbrook added 15 points for Oklahoma City, which matched its lowest scoring total of the season but still gutted out the win.

Historically, the loss makes a huge difference. Los Angeles is 29-12 when splitting the first two games of a seven-game series and has lost 17 of 19 when falling into a 2-0 hole. The Lakers’ last comeback was in the 2004 West semifinals against San Antonio.

The Thunder have won all nine of their series after leading 2-0, dating back to the franchise’s days in Seattle.

In a game that was nip-and-tuck throughout, the Lakers started inching away early in the fourth quarter while Westbrook was on the bench.

Bryant drilled a jumper from the left wing and Blake followed with a 3-pointer before World Peace hit one of two free throws for a 69-63 advantage with 7:27 remaining – the Lakers’ largest lead to that point.

Westbrook returned then but only provided the briefest of sparks for the struggling Oklahoma City offense, and Bynum’s second straight basket – on a left-handed hook shot at the left block – made it 75-68 with 2:09 to play.

Until that point, Oklahoma City had made only 7 of 27 shots in the second half while committing eight turnovers.

After getting ripped apart by the Thunder’s pick-and-roll attack and giving up 119 points in Game 1, the Lakers made it an emphasis to put up more resistance in the rematch and it showed. Matt Barnes shuffled back and forth around three Nick Collison screens to contest Harden’s jumper and preserve the Lakers’ 22-21 lead after one quarter.

The Lakers’ defense was at its best just after halftime as they got out of a 48-45 deficit by holding Oklahoma City scoreless for the first 4 minutes and allowing just two baskets in the first 8 minutes. But Los Angeles still couldn’t create any sort of a cushion and Westbrook’s wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner – after World Peace airballed a similar shot on the opposite end – had the Thunder back within 57-56 with 3:31 left in the third.

Notes: The NBA on Wednesday fined Devin Ebanks $25,000 for actions related to his Game 1 ejection and Bynum $15,000 for failing to speak to reporters Tuesday. Bynum, who has had recent disciplinary issues within the team, talked at the Lakers’ morning shootaround Wednesday and called it a make up for skipping the previous day. “I think he’s learning. Is he going to be a perfect citizen the rest of his career? I don’t know,” coach Mike Brown said. “He’s bound to make mistakes. I think everybody makes mistakes.” … World Peace has said he supported Scott Brooks to become Sacramento’s coach back in 2007, when Brooks had been an assistant under Eric Musselman. “Little does he know, if I would have got the job, I was going to ask for him to be traded,” Brooks joked. He then called World Peace, or Ron Artest at the time, the third-best two-way player at the time behind Bryant and Kevin Garnett. … Harden caught World Peace with an inadvertent elbow to the face in the first quarter.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports, Peterson is waiting to go on trial for the alleged murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports

On Thursday, Judge Edward Burmila will be dealing with a number of defense motions. One asks the court to forbid any mention of Stacy Peterson, while another asks that the case against Drew Peterson be dismissed over the testimony of Savio’s divorce lawyer, Harry Smith, during a pre-trial hearing on hearsay statements.

“This is probably the worst breach of attorney ethics I’ve ever seen in a courtroom, other than downright cheating, where Mr. Smith told what his client said,” Greenberg said. “Prosecutors utilized that information. They shouldn’t have done it.”

Smith said Savio told him if she were to die, Drew Peterson would be responsible. Smith also said Stacy Peterson visited him shortly before she disappeared.

Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, has been held since May 2009 on charges that he murdered his third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in a dry bathtub in March 2004.

Savio’s death was originally ruled an accidental drowning by the Will County Coroner’s office. But after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in October 2007, Savio’s body was exhumed and her death was reclassified as a homicide.

Peterson has not been charged in Stacy’s disappearance, but Illinois State Police believe she is dead, and have named Peterson a person of interest.

Peterson has been held in protective custody while in jail, meaning he has no contact with other prisoners. He can only visit with immediate family members and his attorneys.

After his New York Rangers lost Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Tortorella gave a press conference for the book. Tortorella answered “no” or “we’ll keep it in the room” to most of the questions asked during the 70-second interview.

See for yourself below. Why is this guy such a ‘bag?

What would you do to see the Cubs win the World Series?

September 26, 2011 – Ozzie Guillen era ends

Ozzie Guillen’s time on the South Side was nothing short of unpredictable, and his departure from the White Sox was nothing different.

With two games remaining in the 2011 season, the White Sox agreed to let Guillen out of his contract after the two parties could not reach an agreement on a contract extension.

“It was my call and I appreciated the White Sox organization letting me do what I like to do and what is best. … Maybe not the best, maybe it’s the worst,” Guillen said after managing his final game, a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays. “You don’t know what is out there. Maybe I’m dreaming. I might not appreciate what I got here. You don’t know. You have to close the page and move on. That’s life. Hopefully the next book treats me the way this book treated me.”

That new chapter involved a four-year contract to manage the Miami Marlins signed just a few days after his release from the White Sox.

Guillen had a rather tumultuous relationship with general manager Kenny Williams. Though the two started as friends, their relationship worsened over time. By the end of the 2011, it was obvious they could no longer work together.

Still, Guillen remained close with chairman Jerry Reisndorf.

Months after his release, reports circulated that Guillen had quit on the team, prompting Reinsdorf to release a statement exonerating the former skipper.

“Regarding Ozzie Guillen’s departure as White Sox manager last September, I want to make it clear that he left with our organization’s blessing and at my urging,” said Reinsdorf. “Ozzie told me he wanted to finish out the year, the Marlins really wanted him in Miami for the conclusion of the season, and I told him that he had no choice but to go given the excitement surrounding the opening of their new stadium and the unveiling of their new uniforms.

Over eight seasons with the White Sox, Guillen posted a record of 678-617, including bringing the team its first World Series win in 88 year during the 2005 season.

The Score will continue to release a new Flashback each weekday until they reach 100. Check back tomorrow for a new one, or check out all of the previous Flashbacks: 670 The Score’s 20th Anniversary »

It worked twice, and the Eastern Conference finals are all even, as a result.

David Clarkson scored a tip-in goal off Adam Henrique’s shot 2:31 into the third period to break a tie and lift the Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Rangers that squared the series at one game apiece on Wednesday night.

“It’s a very hard building to play in, and 1-1 sounds much better than down 2-0,” Devils captain Zach Parise said. “We’re happy. We would have liked to have snuck out of here with two wins, but it didn’t happen.

“We’ll take 1-1.”

For the third straight series, the Rangers are wondering what went wrong in Game 2 after they took the opener. They stressed how important it would be to grab a 2-0 lead, which would have been their first two-game edge in this postseason, but didn’t provide the necessary effort to get it done.

New York was riding high after its 3-0 series-opening win on Monday night, but now has relinquished home-ice advantage again.

“You need to improve as a hockey team every game,” said succinct and disappointed coach John Tortorella, who declined to say what areas were deficient.

Game 3 will be Saturday in New Jersey.

Clarkson built off the momentum created by Ryan Carter’s deflected goal late in the second that tied the game, 2-2. Ilya Kovalchuk had given the Devils a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first. Defenseman Bryce Salvador added two assists, and Martin Brodeur stopped 23 saves for his 108th playoff win.

Clarkson has three goals in this postseason, and every one has been a winner, including the clincher against Philadelphia in Game 5 of the second round.

“Mr. Clutch? I don’t know about that,” Clarkson said. “I’m going to skate up and down and finish the checks and just bounce off people. It’s just a great feeling to be able to contribute. To get a tip on that felt pretty good.”

New Jersey had 26 attempted shots blocked in Game 1, five more than they got through to goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The Devils cut the blocks to 16 on Wednesday and managed to get 27 on goal — two more than New York.

“That team blocks so many shots,” Clarkson said. “It’s unbelievable how many. I think we found a way to shoot it and get sticks on it, and definitely that was big for us.”

Marc Staal and Chris Kreider scored power-play goals in the second for the top-seeded Rangers, who received 24 saves by Lundqvist.

New Jersey got even at 2 when Salvador wound up for a shot at the blue line and fired a drive that Carter — with his back to the net — brilliantly deflected past Lundqvist with 1:51 left in the second. Marian Gaborik stood up straight in front of Salvador, but didn’t drop down as many of his teammates have to try to block the shot. For that, he was pinned to the bench by Tortorella, even through New York’s power play in the third.

Gaborik returned to the ice with 8:40 remaining as the Rangers pressed to tie.

The Devils kept the pressure on the Rangers at the start of the third and wiped out the good work the Rangers displayed in the second.

“It was a much different reaction when we went down by a goal than it was in the first game,” Parise said. “We didn’t change the way we played, and I think that was a big difference. We were comfortable with how we were playing.

“All I think they got was really on their power play.”

After spending much of the first trapped in their own end, the Rangers rebounded to erase their early deficit and briefly take the lead thanks to the previously inept power play.

With Alexei Ponikarovsky off for interference, Staal fired a shot that sailed wide of the net and struck the back boards before popping back in front and pinballing into the net off Salvador and Brodeur at 2:23. The goal was originally credited to Derek Stepan, who was in front, but the puck managed to miss him both on the way toward the net and on the bounce back.

“I saw most of the pucks, but the Rangers came out hard,” Brodeur said. “They were around me a lot, and there were some bad bounces. It’s such a tough place to play sometimes here. There are bad bounces, and the boards are terrible.”

Staal nearly netted another moments later when he ripped a drive that Brodeur had to lunge fully to his left to snare with his glove.

Kreider, the rookie from Boston College, scored for the second straight game to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 12:19. Anton Stralman let go a shot from above the right circle that ticked Kreider’s stick and fluttered past Brodeur for the rookie’s fourth goal. He had to wait to get it because it was first given to Stralman before being changed during a commercial break.

But that was hardly the longest delay of the night. Before Kreider’s power-play goal, the action was stopped for about eight minutes as arena workers struggled to get the door to the Devils’ penalty box opened. Travis Zajac stood patiently as he waited to have a seat in the box. He even managed to laugh as did New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer and the usually stoic and agitated Tortorella.

Zajac, who first was sent to the Rangers’ box, stayed in New Jersey’s sin bin for only 1:47 before Kreider scored the Rangers’ second power-play goal of the night.

New York registered the first six shots of the period before New Jersey had its first about eight minutes in, but the teams were even at 17 through 40 minutes.

Lundqvist had a bit of glove magic of his own midway through the second when a shot by Anton Volchenkov was deflected by Kovalchuk but tracked and grabbed by Lundqvist.

The Devils got their elusive first goal of the series, and the all-important lead in the game, when Kovalchuk connected on the power play late in the first period.

After Brian Boyle was sent off for slashing Parise, the Devils continued their puck-possession prowess in the Rangers’ end. New Jersey moved the puck all around the zone in search of a clean shot that could get past the diving New York defense and perhaps challenge Lundqvist, who made 21 saves in the series-opening win.

Marek Zidlicky curled with the puck to the center of the blue line and slid a pass down to the left circle to Kovalchuk, who calmly and patiently drifted in and snapped a shot up and under the crossbar in the upper corner of the net for his sixth goal of the playoffs and fourth on the power play.

“We had to keep going to the net, and I think we were doing some good things,” Clarkson said. “We’ve been playing some good hockey and we’ve got to continue to do it. That is a big win for us.”

The Devils didn’t record a shot on goal until 6:01 in when Patrik Elias put a wrist shot in on Lundqvist, but New Jersey finished the first period with an 8-5 edge in shots — despite having six more blocked by the Rangers.

Whether Brodeur was kidding or not about wanting Rangers to be injured by blocking shots, the home team wasn’t deterred from getting in front of drives. New York forward Brandon Prust was doing a bit of a dance in front of the dangerous Kovalchuk, trying to deny any potential drive, even though he was defending without a stick.

“We have to try to get in lanes,” Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. “Try to limit their time with the puck. If we do that, they are not going to have time to shoot.”

When Kovalchuk finally scored later in the period, he let out a big yell — part celebration and an exclamation of relief — as he skated in front of the glass behind the net.

“We have built some momentum,” Brodeur said. “And now, we have to try to take that into our building, and make our building a tough place to play.”

NOTES: The Rangers were 10 for 61 (16.4 percent) on the power play in the postseason before Wednesday. This marked the second time they netted a man-advantage goal in consecutive games, but the fourth time they scored two in a game. … The Devils returned defenseman Peter Harrold to the lineup and sat rookie Adam Larsson. Harrold replaced Larsson in the lineup late in the season and started the first nine postseason games. Larsson played in the previous five games.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

As WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, the common-law wife of Carlos Salgado, 44, is suing in U.S. District Court, accusing police of excessive force and alleging the shooting that killed Salgado was unprovoked, the Daily Herald reported.

In a statement, Des Plaines police countered that Salgado tried to run down the two officers after they pulled him over in a parking lot on Sunday. Had Salgado survived, police say he would have been charged with attempted murder, among other offenses, the newspaper reported.

Salgado’s common-law wife, Tracie Salgado, tells the Daily Herald her husband was a devoted stay-at-home father. But police tell the newspaper he was a gang member with a history of drug and weapons violations.

Police shot Salgado at 3:12 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot in the 1900 block of East Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines. Salgado, of the 400 block of West Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines, was pronounced dead at the scene.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.