CBS 2 Declares War?

Looks like someone was cleaning out the old storage rooms at Channel 2 and located a set of testicles in a drawer that everyone had forgotten about.

First you have Pam Zekman doing a rehash of Fran Spielman's 29 October article pointing out the Department is short 600 officers. Combined with IOD, Medical and Limited Duty, the city is regularly short around 2,000 officers daily. Zekman dresses up her "investigation" with video and actual victims who have experienced the effects of the shortages firsthand - that's what television does, so we don't begrudge her that.

Then you have the Kurtis and Jacobson reunion. The newscast itself was a ratings stunt to recapture the old glory years, but Walter threw in a few punches with a return to his "Perspective" years, hammering Daley for making a whole bunch of stupid moves in recent months. Shortshanks was so upset that he had to throw in a few shots of his own the next day, which probably means Walter landed a few haymakers. Walter is no friend of the police and has his own axes to grind due to numerous drunk driving incidents and other arrests during the 1970s and 80s, but he did a good job rattling Daley's cage.

Now Jay Levine has a piece detailing the overabundance of "middle management" making 6-figure incomes while hourly workers are having hours cut, holidays canceled and being forced to take furlough days by the truckload:

• Too many bosses.
  
  That's how some describe efforts to cut the city's budget by laying off workers. Hourly workers are feeling much more of the pain than their six-figure-salaried bosses.
  
  [...] The bosses weren't talking -- nor were the bosses' bosses -- about what we found in the mayor's $6 billion budget. In three departments alone, more than 200 top managers are each pulling in around $100,000 a year.
  
  Mayor Daley dedicated a restored railroad bridge Friday – a $4 million project he called investing in the city's infrastructure.
  
  Also on hand was the commissioner of one of three departments who employ 20 deputy Commissioners; 18 assistant commissioners and 25 assistants to the commissioner.
  
  "We don't believe we have an excessive number of managers within the Department of Transportation," Acting Transportation Commissioner Thomas Powers said.

Could it be a new day is dawning in the Chicago media? CBS might be testing the waters to see if there's actually a market for negative stories about the political class? Walter and Bill used to preside over a station that was in the business doing hard hitting investigative reporting. Nowadays, it's hard to tell which media outlet, print, radio or television, is buried deepest in Daley's ass. Hopefully, someone was looking for some fresh air and found a way out.