Kids Shot; J-Fled Watch Begins

Rumbles coming and going, including this one recently:

• There is a rumor from City Hall that Shortshanks is going to buy out the contract of J-Fled because of all the shootings and all the flack from the rank and file. The details of the buyout are being worked out.

Tonight's shooting isn't going to help matters at all:

• Two children were shot tonight in a playlot in the Southeast Side's Hegewisch neighborhood.

  One of the victims, a boy, was shot in the side of his body and taken in critical condition to the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

  The other victim, a girl, was shot in the leg and taken in serious condition to St. Margaret Mercy Hospital in Hammond, Ind., Langford said.

As the reliably democratic voting ethnic enclaves start to see the results of no police in their neighborhoods, the pressure on Shortshanks to make a substantive move will increase, and J-Fled will serve his ultimate purpose in Daley's chess game - Pawn of Blame.