- The Chicago Cubs will not become the Rosemont Cubs any
time soon. Negotiations between the storied, perpetually disappointing
franchise and the city of Chicago seem to have moved past their rockiest point
and an agreement
on a $500 million overhaul of Wrigley Field is all but done. Sources have
broken down the deal as containing $300 million in renovations at Wrigley, more night games, a
parking lot and a $200 million hotel nearby. Best of all for Chicagoans, the
team has agreed to pick up the entire tab to renovate Wrigley after its
conditions for such a deal were met. The process was ugly at times in recent
months, but the deal is expected to be completed by Monday, when the Cubs have
their home opener for the 2013 season. Included in the tentative agreement is a
video scoreboard inside the park in left field and another sign in right field,
both of which could still cause issues with the freeloaders who watch games
from the famed rooftops across the street from the stadium. Owners of several
of the affected buildings have threatened to sue if the renovation does
anything to obstruct their view, but the city forged ahead because team chairman
Tom Ricketts has said he'd be willing to pay for the entire project if the city
would agree to those two terms. As part of the overhaul, the are also expected
to build a 300-space parking garage on the site of a gravel lot at a nearby
cemetery to address long-running complaints by neighbors about the lack of
parking game days. None of this will do anything to end the Cubs’ 105-year
World Series championship drought, but it should end the team’s claims that it
spends as much as $15 million a year just to keep up with the repairs on the
99-year-old stadium, which is the second-oldest in Major League Baseball. The
Ricketts family bought the Cubs in 2009 for $845 million and has been
negotiating with the city ever since in its quest to renovate Wrigley.
Recently, Rosemont (Ill.) Mayor Bradley Stephens suggested a spot near O'Hare International Airport would
be willing to let the Cubs have 25 acres free of charge to build a replica of
Wrigley Field, but that offer is now a moot point……..
- The waters are sinking but the rage is rising in Argentina
following massive floods that killed at least 57 people in the province and city
of Buenos Aires and left a wide swath of wreckage in its wake. Argentine police
and soldiers continue to search from house to house and even up in trees and
roadside ditches for bodies as the hellacious rains finally stopped and water
levels receded. In a city of nearly 1 million people, accounting for everyone
is going to be difficult. Factor in a short supply of safe drinking water and more than a quarter-million people without power in the immediate
aftermath of the storm and life just became much more complicated in Buenos
Aires. Even those who survived must now cope with the damage done when their
homes and possessions disappeared under water reeking with sewage and fuel that
rose more than six feet high. Piles of broken furniture, ruined food and destroyed
cars were common sights throughout the city and the locals are none too happy
with how their government is dealing with the crisis at this early stage in the
process. Although resident Cristina Fernandez, Gov. Daniel Scioli, Social
Welfare Minister Alicia Kirchner and the mayors of Buenos Aires and La Plata
visited the city to survey the damage and reassure citizens, they were loudly
booed when they attempted to speak with victims. Many yelled "go
away" and "you came too late." An angry crowd forced Kirchner and
the governor to flee after Kirchner told the mob, "I understand you, I
understand you're angry.” Scioli said the death toll had risen to 51 people in
and around La Plata, but claimed nearly all of the missing had been accounted
for. Even the capital’s two major hospitals were flooded, leaving mobile
hospitals to care for the injured and government workers to hand out donated
water, canned food and clothing. Hepatitis shots were being given at 33
evacuation centers, along with spraying would kill mosquitoes that spread
dengue fever, according to Provincial Health Minister Alejandro Collia. "The
humanitarian question comes first. The material questions will be resolved in
time," Scioli added while promising loans, tax exemptions and subsidies for
the victims. In total, 16 inches of rain fell on La Plata in just a few hours
late Tuesday and early Wednesday — more than has ever been recorded there for
the entire month of April. The rainfall simply overwhelmed the sewage and storm
drain systems in both Buenos Aires and La Plata and now it’s the locals who are
feeling swamped……..
- Discovering the dark secrets of the universe is one of the
many goals of science and a team of astronomers led by David Jones, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Md. believe they have made a discovery of one of the oldest objects
ever found. The team believes their discovery could eventually provide insights
that will unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy and at this
point, any new source of energy is a welcome find. The old object at the center
of the study is a supernova located 10 billion light-years from Earth.
According to Jones, the supernova strengthens the case for the existence of
dark energy, which is a mysterious force thought to be responsible for pushing
galaxies away from each other at increasing speeds and is believed to be
prevalent throughout the universe. NASA’s Hubble space telescope provided the image of
the supernova and it is one of the most distant stellar explosions ever
observed. According to Jones’ report, the image also offers new proof that dark
energy is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. The supernova
even has a catchy name that would fit nicely on a T-shirt or coffee mug: UDS10Wil.
It was identified as part of a three-year Hubble program called the
CANDELS+CLASH Supernova Project. The project began in 2010 and is nearing its
conclusion, having achieved modest success in capturing images of very distant
supernovae. So far, the CANDELS+CLASH project has uncovered more than 100
supernovae of all types that exploded from 2.4 to over 10 billion years ago. UDS10Wil
is one of nine newly found supernovae that appear to be Type Ia supernovae —
so-called standard candles. With this new evidence, astronomers can now explore
the theory that at the expansion of the universe is accelerating due to dark
energy and also gain a better understanding of how stars and supernova come to
be………
- Unbelievably, amazingly, a reunion tour for man-banders
more than 20 years past their fleeting brush with fame has not started off
well. New Men on the Block are back, again, and their show in New York on
Friday night did not go so well for one member of the group. Jonathan Knight
left the stage and left confused fans in his wake after his mid-show exit. The
five-member man band was shuffling through some of their old-school pop crap from
the late '80s and early '90s and a few songs from their crap-tacular new album
“10” when fans noticed that Knight seemed out of it. The other four members of
the group were popping and locking their hearts out, but Knight stood
uncomfortably in the background, texting on his phone and not paying attention.
When the man band got fans' arms waving with the "Hangin' Tough," he
did not join in and lingered at the back of the stage. The other members --
Knight's brother, Jordan, plus Danny Wood, Joey McIntyre and Donnie Wahlberg –
did not seem surprised by the development and put their arms around him for
support. However, the support only went so far and when Jordan Knight said his
brother was going to sing "Survive You" from "10," Jonathan
Knight tried to sing the song but failed, walking off stage as the rest of the
group continued singing. Fans chanted for Knight's return, but he never came
back and with a history of struggles with anxiety, one has to wonder how he’s
going to survive the rest of the tour or this summer’s man-band extravaganza
tour with 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men. Earlier in the day, Knight tweeted a
message containing the hashtag "I feel naked," which he later chased
with a tweet saying, "I'm sorry......" He’s sorry and should everyone
with a low enough level of self-respect to attend the show be………
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit authorities clearly do not appreciate their
employees’ attempts to better themselves through education. If they did, they
would not have sent out a warning to all DART drivers advising them not to
follow the sample of a driver who was caught apparently reading a book while
driving. The video first appeared online and as of Friday, DART officials said
they were still working on identifying the driver in the picture. Before
determining identity or even verifying that the picture was authentic and not
doctored, DART officials used the image in a bulletin sent to all its drivers
titled “Distracted Driving.” DART Vice President Tim Newby vowed to bring this
self-educating, self-bettering bus driver to justice. “We will take action with
this individual employee,” Newby said. Perhaps valuing the element of surprise,
Newby did not specify what disciplinary action would be taken pending a
thorough investigation of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Newby also expressed surprise over the incident because the agency has recently
placed a heavy focus on curbing distracted driving behaviors and addressing the
issue at this quarter’s safety meetings. In the past year, 16 DART drivers have
been cited for using an electronic device while driving, according to agency
records, but the number of passenger complaints from riders about distracted
drivers is down significantly. However, when does DART want its drivers to read
books, learn and better themselves? Also, how great is it for any
transportation agency to have drivers who can multitask? DART is viewing the
problem from the wrong angle and if there really is a problem, maybe they can
assign another employee to read aloud to drivers or at least turn the page for
them to keep them from having to look down as much……..
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