Connected to Chicago – 04-22-2017

Celebrating Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 75th birthday (Monday) with some of his “Greatest Hits”. Then, Ray Long breaks a story about a fired Illinois Tollway employ who was hired to run the security detail at O’hare airport and follows up on the Chicago Tribune investigation of state pharmacies and law changes that need to be made to prevent errors in dosing and reactions. One law would regulate the number of hours worked and breaks that pharmacy employees need to take.

Lynn Sweet checks in from Washington D.C. with the latest on the Trump administration, and her thoughts about Barack Obama’s first trip back home to Chicago next week to speak about his experiences as a community organizer and it’s value.

Greg Hinz thinks Obama will be very careful in his topic choices for the speech, and that he will mostly focus on himself. Greg also notes that the state’s continued ratings drop by Moody’s might damage the future of state universities and their students. University of Illinois has appeared immune to the damage, but their ability to compete with Harvard, Stanford, and Northwestern universities for the best teachers and students has been reduced due to what Greg termed, “a real tragedy” due to “political incompetence”.

John Dempsey covers the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless which just released new figures showing that 82 percent of the homeless in Chicago are actually living with friends and relatives.