Huppke: Don't be afraid to hire people with disabilities

One of the best experiences of my life was watching Jamie Smith, a young man with autism, leave his routine in Chicago, travel to the Special Olympics World Games in the chaotic Chinese city of Shanghai — and succeed.

Jamie's success — managing in a foreign country and bringing home a silver medal — was the result of one thing: hard work. And I've yet to meet a harder worker than him, or a person who more appreciates the opportunities a job presents.

Our workplaces have grown diverse, but jobs remain far too scarce when it comes to people with autism or other intellectual disabilities. Unemployment rates vary depending on the study but hover around 80 percent, and people with disabilities who do get jobs are routinely paid less than other workers. A stigma surrounds people with disabilities, and employers fear that accommodating workers from this demographic might be cost-prohibitive.

Fortunately, some progress is being made.

Walgreen Co., for example, has for years welcomed workers with intellectual disabilities. In 2007, it opened a distribution center in Anderson, S.C., with the goal that people with disabilities would make up 33 percent of the staff and be paid and treated the same as any other employee.

That number now tops 40 percent, and the company opened a similar center in Connecticut in 2009. It also has begun a separate program that recruits people with disabilities to work in Walgreen stores.

The results, according to Deb Russell, a manager in the company's diversity and inclusion department, have been statistically excellent. Turnover among employees with disabilities is 50 percent lower than that among nondisabled employees, and accuracy and productivity measurements are the same.

"People think accommodations will be expensive and daunting," Russell said. "What we found, especially on the accommodations front, is that it's minimal. Over the thousands of people we've had in the distribution centers, we've spent less than $50 per person. A lot of the time, all the accommodation they need is an open mind."

She said that more than 100 Fortune 500 companies have toured the South Carolina facility to learn more about the program.

"We've been so proud to see quite a few companies coming out recently with programs that are similar to ours," Russell said. "They take what we're doing and make it their own."

What's important to realize is that when Walgreen and other companies hire people with intellectual or other disabilities, they aren't doing it as an act of charity. They're doing it because the people they're hiring are good employees who help the company make money.

Scott Standifer, a University of Missouri researcher who studies employment issues affecting adults with autism, said he's encouraged to see large companies such as Walgreen, AMC Theatres and the investment firm TIAA-CREF, to name a few, aggressively employing people with disabilities.

"For decades the employment specialists who work with people with disabilities have been saying things like, 'These people are very dedicated; they will really love the work; they'll be very loyal employees,'" Standifer said. "The business community knows these agencies are trying to sell their clients, they're trying to convince the businesses to hire them, so they're skeptical. And there hasn't been any data to really back up their claims.

"But now we've got some large corporations who have invested and are evaluating their disability employment projects and are able to talk to other corporations as corporate peers. It's one thing to have job developers coming and saying these people are good workers, give them a chance. It's another to have Walgreens say, 'We are making more money by hiring these folks.'"

Standifer wrote a paper titled "Adult Autism & Employment: A Guide for Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals," which provides a wealth of information for employers, from advice on interviewing people with autism to explanations of the disability. That paper can be found at: tinyurl.com/autismemploy.

He also said he hopes to see more coordination between people in the autism community and an employment resource found in every state — the vocational rehabilitation agency. This agency, overseen by the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration, focuses on finding jobs for people with physical disabilities, often veterans.

But Standifer believes these agencies may be better equipped than state groups to assist people with autism and other intellectual disabilities.

"It's hard for anybody to find a job," he said. "But these state agencies (that work with people with intellectual disabilities) don't have the 80 years of history that the vocational rehabilitation program has. One of the things that I'm excited about is that the autism community, as they start to understand vocational rehabilitation, will also start to lobby for increased vocational rehabilitation funding."

Standifer also pointed out that study after study has shown employing people with disabilities saves the country money.

"It has turned out to be cheaper and better to do whatever it takes to get people with disabilities working," he said. "When you support that, they don't need as many other social services. They're not needing Social Security disability income and other things. It's cheaper, it's better and it's healthier."

And, dare I say, it's the way things should be. Our workplaces have always benefited from inclusion.

We should aspire to work alongside people with disabilities, not as an act of good will, but with the hope that we might benefit by learning from each other.

TALK TO REX: Ask workplace questions — anonymously or by name — and share stories with Rex Huppke at ijustworkhere@tribune.com, like Rex on Facebook at facebook.com/rexworkshere, and find more at chicagotribune.com/ijustworkhere.

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Cowboys' Brown dies in crash; former Illini teammate charged

RAW: Irving PD's Cowboys Josh Brent Press Conference (Posted Dec. 8th, 2012)

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was arrested for drunk driving and charged with manslaughter on Saturday after a car he was driving crashed and killed teammate Jerry Brown Jr, in the second tragedy involving NFL players in a week.

Police in the Dallas suburb of Irving said that Brent, 24, was driving at high speed on a state highway at 2:21 a.m. when the car slammed into an "outside curb, causing the vehicle to flip at least one time before coming to rest in the middle of the service road."

Brown, who had been in the passenger seat, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later. Brent suffered "minor scrapes" and was booked into the Irving jail, where he remained on Saturday awaiting arraignment, police said.

"Officers at the scene believed alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash," police said, adding that Brent was given a sobriety test. "Based on the results and the officer's observations and conversations with Price-Brent, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated," Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said at a news conference.

“I am devastated and filled with grief,” Brent said in a statement released by his agent Saturday night. “Filled with grief for the loss of my close friend and teammate, Jerry Brown. I am also grief-stricken for his family, friends and all who were blessed enough to have known him.

"I will live with this horrific and tragic loss every day for the rest of my life. My prayers are with his family, our teammates and his friends at this time."

Brown, 25, was a linebacker on the professional team's practice squad but had not played any games with the Cowboys. He had played in one NFL game for the Indianapolis Colts this season before joining the Cowboys.

Brown also played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 2011 and for two Arena Football League team, the Jacksonville Sharks in 2011 and the San Antonio Talons in 2012. Arena football is played indoors on a smaller field than NFL or Canadian outdoor football.

Brent, 24, has started in five games for the Cowboys and played 12 this season since regular starting defensive lineman Jay Ratliff was sidelined with injuries.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones issued a statement expressing his condolences to Brown's family.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of this accident and the passing of Jerry Brown. Our hearts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with the members of Jerry's family and all of those who knew him and loved him."

Brent remained in jail on Saturday and his bond will be set at his Sunday morning arraignment, police said. The drunk driving charge was upgraded to intoxication manslaughter, a second degree felony which is punishable in Texas by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

When police arrived on the scene of the accident after several 911 calls, part of the car was on fire. The 2007 Mercedes sedan was resting on its roof in the middle of the road, and Brent was dragging Brown out of the burning car, said Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz at a news conference.

Police believe, based on gouge marks and other physical evidence at the scene, that Brown was driving faster than the posted 45 miles per hour speed limit.

Argumaniz said the Texas police are still looking for witnesses to the crash, which did not appear to involve any other vehicles.

"There were people on scene," he said. "However, it's our understanding that no one saw what took place. They drove up after the accident."

Brent has been arrested for drunk driving before. While he was on the University of Illinois football team, he was arrested February 23, 2009, on a drunk driving charge, according to Champaign, Illinois, county records. He spent time in the county jail and was suspended from the team, according to local media reports. He eventually left school and was drafted by the Cowboys.

Brent and Brown were teammates at Illinois from 2007-09 under then-coach Ron Zook. Brent was suspended in 2009 after a DUI arrest.

An Illinois spokesman issued this statement: "This is a tragic story. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the Brown family."

Illinois coach Tim Beckman tweeted: "Sad News for the illini family today. Jerry Brown, former illini and current NFL player has passed away. Keep him in your prayers."

Former teammate Arrelious Benn tweeted: "Prayers go out to the family of my former classmate, teammate Former Illini Jerry Brown. RIP. #Illini" 

Tribune reporter Shannon Ryan contributed

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Orlando Bloom’s Legolas returns to Middle Earth in 2014′s “There and Back Again”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Legolas was a fan favorite in Peter Jackson‘s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, but J.R.R. Tolkien enthusiasts won’t see the warrior Elf return to Middle Earth until 2014 when “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” hits theaters.

Entertainment Weekly published the first image of Orlando Bloom reprising his role and he looks pretty much the same, with the exception of his very blue eyes (weren’t they brown before?).

It’s true that the character is not featured in the book this trilogy is being adapted from, but luckily for Bloom’s bank account, his father is.

“He’s Thranduil’s son, and Thranduil is one of the characters in ‘The Hobbit,’” Jackson explained. “And because elves are immortal it makes sense Legolas would be part of the sequence in the Woodland Realm.”

If you don’t recognize the man standing next to Legolas, it’s because he’s a new face in the franchise. Bard the Bowman – played by Luke Evans – is a heroic human Laketown warrior who (if you couldn’t tell by his name) is also quite the marksman. He’ll come into the picture when “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” lands in theaters on December 13, 2013.

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law

WASHINGTON — For more than a year, politicians have been fighting over whether to raise taxes on high-income people. They rarely mention that affluent Americans will soon be hit with new taxes adopted as part of the 2010 health care law.

The new levies, which take effect in January, include an increase in the payroll tax on wages and a tax on investment income, including interest, dividends and capital gains. The Obama administration proposed rules to enforce both last week.

Affluent people are much more likely than low-income people to have health insurance, and now they will, in effect, help pay for coverage for many lower-income families. Among the most affluent fifth of households, those affected will see tax increases averaging $6,000 next year, economists estimate.

To help finance Medicare, employees and employers each now pay a hospital insurance tax equal to 1.45 percent on all wages. Starting in January, the health care law will require workers to pay an additional tax equal to 0.9 percent of any wages over $200,000 for single taxpayers and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The new taxes on wages and investment income are expected to raise $318 billion over 10 years, or about half of all the new revenue collected under the health care law.

Ruth M. Wimer, a tax lawyer at McDermott Will & Emery, said the taxes came with “a shockingly inequitable marriage penalty.” If a single man and a single woman each earn $200,000, she said, neither would owe any additional Medicare payroll tax. But, she said, if they are married, they would owe $1,350. The extra tax is 0.9 percent of their earnings over the $250,000 threshold.

Since the creation of Social Security in the 1930s, payroll taxes have been levied on the wages of each worker as an individual. The new Medicare payroll is different. It will be imposed on the combined earnings of a married couple.

Employers are required to withhold Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes from wages paid to employees. But employers do not necessarily know how much a worker’s spouse earns and may not withhold enough to cover a couple’s Medicare tax liability. Indeed, the new rules say employers may disregard a spouse’s earnings in calculating how much to withhold.

Workers may thus owe more than the amounts withheld by their employers and may have to make up the difference when they file tax returns in April 2014. If they expect to owe additional tax, the government says, they should make estimated tax payments, starting in April 2013, or ask their employers to increase the amount withheld from each paycheck.

In the Affordable Care Act, the new tax on investment income is called an “unearned income Medicare contribution.” However, the law does not provide for the money to be deposited in a specific trust fund. It is added to the government’s general tax revenues and can be used for education, law enforcement, farm subsidies or other purposes.

Donald B. Marron Jr., the director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, said the burden of this tax would be borne by the most affluent taxpayers, with about 85 percent of the revenue coming from 1 percent of taxpayers. By contrast, the biggest potential beneficiaries of the law include people with modest incomes who will receive Medicaid coverage or federal subsidies to buy private insurance.

Wealthy people and their tax advisers are already looking for ways to minimize the impact of the investment tax — for example, by selling stocks and bonds this year to avoid the higher tax rates in 2013.

The new 3.8 percent tax applies to the net investment income of certain high-income taxpayers, those with modified adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 for single taxpayers and $250,000 for couples filing jointly.

David J. Kautter, the director of the Kogod Tax Center at American University, offered this example. In 2013, John earns $160,000, and his wife, Jane, earns $200,000. They have some investments, earn $5,000 in dividends and sell some long-held stock for a gain of $40,000, so their investment income is $45,000. They owe 3.8 percent of that amount, or $1,710, in the new investment tax. And they owe $990 in additional payroll tax.

The new tax on unearned income would come on top of other tax increases that might occur automatically next year if President Obama and Congress cannot reach an agreement in talks on the federal deficit and debt. If Congress does nothing, the tax rate on long-term capital gains, now 15 percent, will rise to 20 percent in January. Dividends will be treated as ordinary income and taxed at a maximum rate of 39.6 percent, up from the current 15 percent rate for most dividends.

Under another provision of the health care law, consumers may find it more difficult to obtain a tax break for medical expenses.

Taxpayers now can take an itemized deduction for unreimbursed medical expenses, to the extent that they exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. The health care law will increase the threshold for most taxpayers to 10 percent next year. The increase is delayed to 2017 for people 65 and older.

In addition, workers face a new $2,500 limit on the amount they can contribute to flexible spending accounts used to pay medical expenses. Such accounts can benefit workers by allowing them to pay out-of-pocket expenses with pretax money.

Taken together, this provision and the change in the medical expense deduction are expected to raise more than $40 billion of revenue over 10 years.

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WGN America may be channel of change for Tribune Co.

On Sunday night, WGN-Ch. 9 will air "Bozo's Circus: The Lost Tape," a 1971 episode that an alert archivist discovered after four decades of gathering dust.

At the same time, WGN America, the station's national cable counterpart, will beam reruns of the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" to its 75 million subscribers across the country.

Part of Tribune Co.'s future may rest with programming decisions like that.

Poised to emerge from its lengthy bankruptcy, the Chicago-based media company is expected to enter the new year with its holdings intact, a clean balance sheet and a plan to sell everything eventually.

The expected decision to name television executive Peter Liguori as Tribune Co.'s chief executive — he was the architect of basic cable powerhouse FX's first-run success — points to unlocking the value of the 34-year-old superstation as integral to a profitable exit strategy for the new owners of Tribune Co.

A source close to the situation told the Tribune that Liguori sees WGN America as an undervalued cable network with tremendous potential, if it gets the programming investment required. Developing the channel will "absolutely be a focus" after Liguori joins the company, which could happen within weeks.

"I'm sure that's the plan," said Derek Baine, a senior media analyst with SNL Kagan. "It all comes down to how much money you're investing in programming to get the viewers."

The new owners, senior creditors Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and JPMorgan Chase, have made it clear that monetizing Tribune Co.'s publishing, broadcasting and other holdings after a four-year slog through Chapter 11 is a matter of time. The process will likely challenge the maxim that the whole of Tribune Co. — estimated to be worth $4.5 billion post-emergence — is more than the sum of its parts. That's especially true when one of those parts is national cable channel WGN America, a low-rated repository of Cubs games and reruns, whose upside potential may dwarf all of the other assets combined.

Broadcasting assets, including 23 television stations, WGN-AM 720, CLTV and WGN America, represent the core profit center and account for $2.85 billion of Tribune Co.'s value, according to financial adviser Lazard. Tribune's eight daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, are worth $623 million, and other strategic assets, such as stakes in CareerBuilder and Food Network, are valued at $2.26 billion, according to a 2012 report by Lazard.

The value of the TV stations, including KTLA-TV in Los Angeles and WPIX-TV in New York, should benefit from an improving appetite for acquisitions, according to analysts. But WGN America, with the help of a few hit shows and some rebranding, could be the sleeping giant on the books. Turner Broadcasting's TBS, for example, has five times the audience and seven times the cash flow of WGN America and carries a distinct brand. It is worth more than twice that of the entire Tribune Co.

Liguori's success at FX Networks could well be the blueprint. After joining what was a small basic cable channel in 1998, Liguori was elevated to CEO in 2001 and transformed the network by offering original programming such as "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me," building ratings and revenues in the process.

"You just need a couple of hit shows and then you can start building a schedule around them," Baine said. "A lot of these cable networks, you take one hit show and get people hooked on it and then you can stick another one in the time slot right behind it and start building on that."

Last year, FX had a cash flow of nearly $553 million on net revenue of more than $1 billion, making the network worth nearly $8 billion, Baine said.

WGN America is often compared with TBS to illustrate the upside, and the divergent paths the two original superstations have taken as the cable network model — a dual revenue stream of affiliate fees and advertising dollars — has evolved over the last two decades.

Both WGN and WTBS were uploaded to satellite in the late '70s, filling the programming void for distant cable systems with local baseball and "Andy Griffith" reruns. TBS became a division of Time Warner in 1996 and transformed into a full-fledged cable network, shelving old reruns for off-network sitcoms, benching the Atlanta Braves for national MLB coverage and rolling out first-run programming featuring everything from Tyler Perry to Conan O'Brien. The network dropped "superstation" and rebranded itself with slogans such as "very funny."

One advantage FX, which is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and TBS have enjoyed is the connection to a media empire with programming prowess and deep pockets.

Meanwhile, WGN has clung to the vestiges of its lower-cost superstation model, meaning cable and satellite systems can't insert local commercials and must pay copyright fees for the programming to the government. Content shifts between local and national, with Cubs baseball and Chicago news still broadcast across the country. There is a dearth of first-run programming, and the schedule is dotted with such fillers as "In the Heat of the Night" and "Walker: Texas Ranger." Even Andy Griffith remains in the mix with "Matlock," part of a block of programming to cover the "WGN Morning News," which is not broadcast nationally.

Not surprisingly, WGN America lags TBS and FX in ratings, revenue and distribution.

TBS is ranked 11th, FX is 13th and WGN America 40th in average viewership among cable networks through November, according to Nielsen.

Of the more than 114 million homes receiving cable in the U.S., TBS reaches 99.7 million, FX 97.9 million and WGN America 75 million, according to Nielsen. One of the biggest holes in WGN's coverage area is New York City, where the station has never quite found its way into the cable lineup. Nationally, TBS and FX are included in the basic packages for Dish Network and DirecTV, while WGN America is relegated to the second or third tier.

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Career night for Noah

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — To Ben Wallace, Joakim Noah always will be the bag-carrying and doughnut-fetching rookie he was when the two were teammates for part of the 2007-08 season.

So after Noah put up a game for the ages Friday night to lead the Bulls to a 108-104 comeback victory over the Pistons, the recently-retired Wallace rose from his baseline seat at the Palace of Auburn Hills and put Noah in a headlock.

"He said I should've had more rebounds and more points," Noah said, smiling. "But he's a hater. That's why I love him. I'm a hater too."

Noah's career-high 30 points, career-high 23 rebounds and six assists were enough to rally the Bulls from 17 points down to their 16th straight victory in this series.

Noah joined Charles Barkley, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett as the only players in the last 25 seasons to post at least 30 points, 23 rebounds and six assists in a game. It's the first time a Bull reached those levels since Charles Oakley had 35 points, 26 rebounds and seven assists on March 15, 1986.

Noah also became the first Bull to post a 30-point, 20-rebound game since Marcus Fizer did so against the Magic on April 12, 2004.

"It's crazy to have numbers like that," Noah said. "It feels great to play well and win. But we have another one (Saturday), so we just have to move on."

Noah paused and smiled.

"Unfortunately," he said.

The Bulls' defense was unfortunate early as the Pistons shot 54.1 percent in the first half to build a 17-point lead.

"The second quarter was an abomination," coach Tom Thibodeau said.

But the Bulls closed the first half with a 14-2 run to pull within 55-50.

"That was critical," Thibodeau said.

Fittingly, Noah nudged the Bulls ahead for good with an offensive rebound, putback and three-point play to snap an 82-82 tie with 8 minutes, 7 seconds remaining. Noah's offensive rebound and dish to Carlos Boozer, who scored 24 points as all five starters reached double figures, produced a left-handed dunk and seven-point lead with 3:18 left.

"He's playing with that kind of effort every night," Kirk Hinrich said. "He goes to the board every time. It's amazing to watch that intensity."

Noah posted 20 points and 17 rebounds his last game here. He also once had a 21-point, 20-rebound effort during the 2010 playoffs against the Cavaliers.

But this was special.

"He was everywhere," Thibodeau said.

And now the schedule turns. Saturday's Knicks game begins a stretch of eight straight against teams in playoff position entering Friday night. The Knicks lead the Eastern Conference.

"They're flying high," Noah said. "They played very well against Miami the other day. They're going to be rested. They're playing probably the best basketball in the NBA right now. It's on us to come in ready."

You know Noah will be.

kcjohnson@tribune.com

Twitter @kcjhoop

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Big-data analytics company Cloudera raises $65 million

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Cloudera, a distributor of software that helps companies analyze big data, said it has raised $ 65 million in new funding.

The company is part of a growing group of businesses that help dig into the vast trove of data created by digital sources such as sensors, posts to the Internet, pictures and videos.

The field caught investor attention when Splunk, another data analytics firm, held an initial public offering earlier this year and doubled in price on its first trading day.

Cloudera’s business is based on Hadoop, open-source software that aggregates results from large sets of data. Cloudera provides services that allow companies to easily use Hadoop.

The funding round was led by Accel Partners, with participation from Greylock Partners, Ignition Partners, In-Q-Tel and Meritech Capital Partners. All Things D, which first reported the funding, said the company’s valuation was $ 700 million.

Cloudera, based in Palo Alto, California, last raised $ 40 million in November 2011.

(Reporting By Sarah McBride; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“Gangnam Style” singer Psy apologizes for past anti-U.S. songs

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The South Korean pop singer behind the viral smash hit “Gangnam Style” apologized on Friday for past concerts featuring anti-American lyrics, ahead of a holiday performance to be attended by U.S. President Barack Obama and his family.

Psy issued the apology after reports surfaced in the United States on Friday about his participation in two performances critical of the U.S. military in 2004.

Psy’s “Gangnam Style” Korean pop and dance video is now the most-watched video ever on YouTube, with more than 900 million views since it was first uploaded in July.

“While I’m grateful for the freedom to express one’s self, I’ve learned there are limits to what language is appropriate and I’m deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted,” the rapper said in a statement.

“I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused by those words,” he added.

In one performance, which Psy said was from eight years ago, the rapper protested the deaths of two teenage South Korean girls who were run over by a U.S. tank stationed in the country.

In a separate performance, Psy was critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and its occupation, in which South Korean forces participated.

Psy is scheduled to perform at the annual “Christmas in Washington” television special that will also be attended by Obama and his family, the White House said on Friday. Broadcaster TNT said Psy would still perform as planned.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal in Washington; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Integrys Energy Services tapped to supply Chicago's electricity

The same company that heats homes in Chicago has been picked to provide the electricity that powers them.

Integrys Energy Services, a sister company to Peoples Gas, on Friday was named the city's choice to supply electricity to about 1 million Chicagoans. It's the largest such deal negotiated by a city on behalf of its residents.

The City Council is to vote on the contract Wednesday after a Monday public hearing.

Chicagoans should see discounts of 20 to 25 percent from March through June. Afterward, savings are expected to drop. Overall, the average household is expected to save $130 to $150 through May 2015, when the contract ends, according to the mayor's office.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday the deal "will put money back into the pockets of Chicago families and small businesses."

The contract calls for the elimination of power produced from coal, the largest source of greenhouse gases. About 40 percent of Chicago's electricity is from coal.

"That's a giant step toward healthier air and clean, renewable energy that supports good paying jobs in the technologies of tomorrow," said Jack Darin, executive director of the Sierra Club's Illinois chapter and a member of the advisory committee that worked on the deal.

However, the no-coal provision is largely symbolic since there is no way to know the precise origin of electricity flowing into Chicago homes.

Integrys Energy Services, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Integrys Energy Group, was chosen from eight bidders and was the only company other than Exelon-owned Constellation NewEnergy that made it to the final round.

Integrys Energy Group's board includes William Brodsky, head of the Chicago Board Options Exchange and a member of World Business Chicago, which Emanuel chairs.

The Integrys unit won the electrical aggregation contract despite Emanuel's connection to Constellation through its parent company, Exelon, which also owns Commonwealth Edison. While working at investment banking firm Wasserstein Perella & Co. after leaving the Clinton White House in 1998, Emanuel helped set up the merger that created Exelon.

Price was the determining factor, the mayor's office said.

Bidding documents, including pricing and how the contract would be structured, were not made public Friday.

In picking a price, Integrys must account for a large number of customers that will come and go. If electricity prices rise, Integrys risks losing money. Still, Integrys stands to become a dominant player in the retail electricity business and gain about $300 million in yearly revenue.

"Scale is important in this business," said Travis Miller, a utilities analyst with Chicago-based Morningstar. "The winner is immediately going to gain a huge scale advantage within the retail market."

ComEd still will be responsible for delivering electricity and fixing outages. ComEd makes its money delivering electricity, not supplying it. Customers' new bills will look like the old bills, except that the portion titled "electricity supply services" will have a new rate and include the new supplier's name.

Chicagoans can opt out and stick with ComEd or choose their own supplier like thousands of people already have.

Tribune reporter John Byrne contributed.

jwernau@tribune.com

Twitter @littlewern

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Preckwinkle blasts Emanuel, quickly backs off

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Thursday quickly backed off a public barb she tossed at Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his crime-fighting strategy, marking the second time in a little more than three months she has toned down off-the-cuff remarks.

This time, the first-term Democrat retreated after saying the mayor and his hand-picked police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, were too focused on arrests as a solution to rising violence and not enough on improving a "miserable" public school system and beefing up youth programs.

"Clearly this mayor and this police chief have decided the way in which they are going to deal with the terrible violence that faces our community is just arrest everybody," Preckwinkle said during a question-and-answer session after delivering a Union League Club luncheon speech on her second anniversary in office. "I don't think in the long term that's going to be successful.

"We're going to have to figure out how to have interventions that are more comprehensive than just police interventions in the communities where we have the highest rates of crime. And they're almost all in African-American and Latino communities."

When Preckwinkle faced reporters minutes later, she said Emanuel is working to improve schools and youth programs. She added that her criticism of the public schools controlled by Emanuel was aimed at society as a whole and not the mayor personally.

The Emanuel flap follows Preckwinkle's remarks about former President Ronald Reagan. In late August, the blunt-talking Preckwinkle took aim at Reagan's legacy. Later she said she regretted saying he deserved "a special place in hell" for his role in the war on drugs.

At the luncheon Thursday, Preckwinkle was asked what she could do to address city violence, which has drawn national attention this year with a spike in the city's murder rate and brazen incidents like the fatal shooting of a young man at a funeral for a reputed gang member.

Preckwinkle said much of the problem results from a Chicago school system with a low high school graduation rate.

"We have contented ourselves with a miserable education system that has failed many of our children," Preckwinkle said, adding that more after-school enrichment and job-training programs were needed. "I'm talking about the kids who don't graduate, let alone the kids who graduate (who) don't get a very good education, even with a high school diploma."

Emanuel aides offered a restrained response.

"Mayor Emanuel strenuously agrees that a holistic approach is necessary to successfully address crime," Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said in a statement. "His multipart strategy ranges from improving early childhood education, providing a longer school day and creating re-engagement centers for youth, to delivering wraparound services, revitalizing the community policing program and working to prevent retaliatory actions by gangs.

"All of these work in tandem, but let's make no mistake, criminals deserve to be arrested," Hamilton wrote.

Emanuel and McCarthy have directed additional police resources into troubled South Side and West Side neighborhoods, combined with additional social services and community-building efforts. Emanuel also dedicated $9 million in additional funding next year for early childhood education, after-school programs and jobs, children's eye exams and programs that address domestic violence.

Reminded of those initiatives, Preckwinkle acknowledged that Emanuel is putting more city money into such programs, some of which are coordinated with the county. She said her criticism of schools wasn't directed at Emanuel, who appoints the Chicago Public Schools board and picks the system's CEO.

"This was a critique of all of us. It wasn't aimed at the mayor," said Preckwinkle, a former CPS high school history teacher.

The point, Preckwinkle said, is that education over the long run will do more to quell violence than arresting people and locking them up.

"You know unfortunately we live in a country in which we are much more willing to spend money on keeping people in prison than we are on educating them in our public schools," she said. "And that's disgraceful. It reflects badly on all of us."

She added, "I don't think we are going to arrest our way out of our violence problems."

Preckwinkle has frequently criticized a justice system that she says locks up African-American and Latino men in far greater numbers than their white counterparts, particularly for drug crimes, when studies show drugs are used in equal numbers across ethnic and racial boundaries.

<em><a href="mailto:hdardick@tribune.com">hdardick@tribune.com</a></em>

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