This year saw a number of highs–some ominous–and quite a few dubious lows that the city, the nation even, won’t soon forget. A city with its fingers crossed in anticipation of becoming the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games, Chicago saw a murder rate top the 500 mark, sales taxes top the national average and a scandal in the governor’s office that continues to top the news. The city mourned, as the world did, the loss of a true funny–and family–man in Bernie Mac. And while R&B superstar R. Kelly walked out of the criminal courthouse acquitted of damning child pornography charges, months later, another local entertainment industry standout, Jennifer Hudson, would receive word that her mother, brother and her nephew, were shot to death. Hundreds of Chicago Public Schools students, lead by state politicians and other community leaders, raised their voices against inequitable school funding, boycotting CPS at the start of the school year.
Still news was not all bad this year, as the Chicago Defender went weekly, poised to bring forth more comprehensive and relevant coverage to its readers. And the uber-highlight of the year, the nation elected its first Black president, Chicago’s own Barack Obama.
Eager to improve the local economy,
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley thrust the
city in the national spotlight this year by bidding
on the 2016 Olympics.
By doing so, he successfully pushed Chicago
past other U.S. cities to become the only
American metropolis being considered to
host the games. The International Olympics
Committee, which will make its decision
known in October 2009, is also considering
Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.
Among the biggest obstacles the city still
faces is where to house the athletes. It has
proposed building a $1.1 billion Olympic
Village housing complex in the Bronzeville
community, but many residents and community
organizations are opposed to that. 
After a six-year languish, Chicago native and R&B superstar R. Kelly finally got his day in
court to answer child pornography charges against him. Jurors watched, several times, a
27-minute raunchy sex tape of allegedly Kelly and a minor having sex. The tape was the
heart of the prosecution’s case. Kelly said it wasn’t him and never testified. The alleged
minor testified before a grand jury that she did not participate in the film. The jury acquitted
Kelly in June. They could not positively identify the alleged minor, jurors told reporters
after the verdict.
On Feb. 13, 2008, the Chicago Defender newspaper published its first weekly issue in more than 40 years. The Defender was born as a weekly and once touted itself as “America’s Best Weekly.” The move was undertaken to adapt to the changes in advertising economics. Nearly all of the paper’s advertisers bought space in the newspaper only once a week, while the other three papers that were produced had little advertising support. The Defender’s news coverage is now geared toward featuring more in-depth stories. The move has been received well by readers and advertisers.
Caught up in the crosshairs of turf wars and other gang-related disputes,
many children were felled by violence in 2008. Gang violence, mainly on the
South Side, also claimed the lives of many adults. In April, the city experienced
a quintuple homicide and nearly a dozen homicides within a one-week
span. Six months later, a triple murder rocked the city. But this time, the
nation took notice. The victims were the family of Academy award-winning
actress and songstress Jennifer Hudson. The city’s murder woes sparked a
half-hour documentary by BET. In 2007, there were 443 homicides. This year,
as of Dec. 29, the unofficial total was 503, the highest in the last five years.
On July 1, the sales tax in Cook
County increased to 1.75 percent
from 0.75 percent, pushing
Chicago’s overall sales tax to 10.25
percent and making it the highest of
any major U.S. city. Other big cities
pay much less in sales tax. In New
York City, sales tax is 8.4 percent,
and in Los Angeles, it’s 8.25 percent.
Cook County’s sales tax hike applies
to such things as furniture, appliances
and alcohol. Dining will now
cost more.
Cook County Board President Todd
Stroger said that without the sales
tax increase, services at the county
hospitals and other county health
facilities, which are mainly used by
the poor, would have been cut.
While vacationing in Florida, Chicago native and starlet Jennifer Hudson received a call on
Oct. 24 from her sister, Julia, that likely changed the Academy Award-winning actress’ life.
Their mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother Jason Hudson, were found fatally shot inside
their Englewood home. And Julia’s 7-year-old son, Julian King, and the brother’s SUV
were missing. King’s body was found three days later. Police said the boy was shot to
death the same day as his grandmother and uncle. Julia Hudson’s estranged husband,
William Balfour, was charged with the triple homicide. He maintains his innocence.
Chicago’s very own King of
Comedy, Bernard Jeffery
McCullough succumbed to complications
of pneumonia in August.
Bernie Mac, who suffered from sarcoidosis,
an inflammatory lung disease,
was remembered in a public
memorial service that attracted
more than 6,000 fans, friends and
relatives. His daughter and cousins
said the 50-year-old was the life of
every family gathering and will be
sorely missed. Fellow comedians
Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley
and Steve Harvey, Mayor Richard
M. Daley and actor Samuel L.
Jackson, among others, also paid
tribute to the sharp-witted comedian/actor.
On November 4, freshman U.S. Sen.
Barack Obama, D-Ill., son of a Black
Kenyan father and a white Kansan
mother, was elected the 44th U.S. president
and the first Black to do so. His
landslide victory was the result of
Blacks, whites, Hispanics, students, first-time
voters and seniors coming out on
his behalf.
President-elect Obama, 47, told voters
nearly 22 months ago that it was time for
a change, and voters responded by
choosing him to effect that change.
The Hyde Park community resident was
no stranger to voters nationwide. At the
2004 Democratic National Convention,
he delivered a keynote address as memorable
as the acceptance speech he
gave at the DNC in August.
The married father of two young daughters
will be officially sworn into office
Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington. D.C.
Frustrated over state funding disparities between white and Black students attending
public schools, on Sept. 2, state Sen. James Meeks, D-15th, organized a boycott
of Chicago Public Schools. Approximately 1,000 students participated in the two-day event,
in which Meeks bussed the students to New Trier High School in north suburban
Northfield to register for classes. Meeks, who is also pastor Salem Baptist Church,
had urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to make good on a 2006 campaign promise to
invest $10 billion in education. The senator called off the boycott Sept. 3 after
Blagojevich agreed to meet with him to discuss school funding but only if the boycott
ended first.
Illinois’ two-term governor made headlines
earlier this month after being arrested on
federal corruption charges. Among the allegations
in the U.S. Attorney’s 76-page
complaint is Blagojevich recorded on wiretaps
scheming to sell President-elect
Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.
Blagojevich was on a “political corruption
crime spree” that had to end, federal prosecutors
said. The governor allegedly wanted
campaign donations or other favors
before he would appoint a candidate to
succeed Obama. The governor remains on
the job and intends to “fight” the charges.
He has bucked calls for his resignation
and, on Tuesday, defied political pleas by
appointing former Attorney General Roland
Burris to the Senate seat.
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Copyright 2008
Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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