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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

C I T Y PA P E R

2014 OLYMPICS

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

U.S. officials site security steps for Sochi Games

Amid threats, concern for athlete safety grows
ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citing rising threats of violence at the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, U.S. officials said Friday they are prepared to work with Russian security officials to help protect American athletes and the 10,000 American spectators expected to attend. As host country, Russia has prime responsibility for protecting athletes and spectators. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 7, and U.S. officials are already in Sochi. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that he and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have talked to their Russian counterparts about security for the Olympics, including the need to ensure protections for U.S. citizens. If we need to extract our citizens, we will have appropriate arrangements with the Russians to do this, Hagel said, noting the U.S. will have two warships in the Black Sea during the Games.

Gocelin Lopez, 5, swings in the shadow of a Crestwood water tower.

Poison in the well

Crestwood officials cut corners, supplying residents with tainted water for 2 decades
By Michael Hawthorne
STAFF REPORTER Like every town across the nation, south suburban Crestwood tucks a notice into utility bills each summer reassuring residents their drinking water is safe. Village leaders also trumpet the claim in their monthly newsletter, while boasting they offer the cheapest water rates in Cook County. But those pronouncements hide a troubling reality: For more than two decades, the 11,000 or so residents in this working class community unknowingly drank tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, a Newspaper investigation found. As village officials were building a national reputation for pinching pennies, and sending out fliers proclaiming Crestwood water was Good to taste but not to waste!, state and village records obtained by the newspaper show they secretly were drawing water from a contaminated well, apparently to save money. Officials kept using the well even though state environmental officials told them at least 22 years ago that dangerous chemicals related to a drycleaning solvent had oozed into the water, records show. The village avoided scrutiny by telling state regulators in 1986 that they would get all of their tap water from Lake Michigan, and would use the well only in an emergency. But records show Crestwood kept drawing well water on a routine basis relying on it for up to 20 percent of the villages water supply some months. water for the first time in more than 20 years. The agency found not only that the well was still contaminated but that Crestwood had been piping the water, untreated, to residents. Since then, the EPA has cited Crestwood twice for violating environmental laws, yet has failed to notify people who drank the well water for years. The agency continues to investigate, and Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigans office also is looking into the matter. The well water is polluted with two chemicals related to perchloroethylene.

Russian Army soldiers wait for transportation, in Sochi airport, Russia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014.

You would expect them to tell their constituents whats in the water theyre drinking.
The well wasnt shut off for good until December 2007, after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency tested the

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IN BUSINESS

Folk music legend dead at 94

Folk legend was true voice of the people
NEW YORK TIMES Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday. He was 94 and lived in Beacon, N.Y. Seegers career carried him from singing at labor rallies to the Top 10 to college auditoriums to folk festivals, and from a conviction for contempt of Congress (after defying the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in the 1950s) to performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at an inaugural concert for Barack Obama. For Seeger, folk music and a sense of community were inseparable, and where he saw a community, he saw the possibility of political action. In his hearty tenor, Seeger, a beanpole of a man who most often played 12-string guitar or five-string banjo, sang topical songs and childrens songs, humorous tunes and earnest anthems, always encouraging listeners to join in. His agenda paralleled the concerns of the American left: He sang for the labor movement in the 1940s and 1950s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the 1960s.

Wal-mart thinking globally, acting locally

Giant retailer announces initiative to focus on locally grown produce
By Bruce Kirby
BUSINESS WRITER Wal-Mart Stores announced a program on Thursday that would focus on sustainable agriculture among its suppliers, as it tries to expand its efforts to improve environmental efficiency among its suppliers. The program is intended to put more locally grown food in Wal-Mart stores in the United States, invest in training and infrastructure for small and medium-size farmers, particularly in emerging markets, and begin to measure the efficiency of large suppliers in growing and getting their produce to market. Given that Wal-Mart is the worlds largest grocer, with one of the biggest supply chains, any changes that it makes would have wide implications. Wal-Marts decision five years ago to set sustainability goals that, among other things, increased its reliance on renewable energy and reduced packaging waste among its supplies, sent broad ripples through product manufacturers. Large companies like Procter & Gamble redesigned packages that are now carried by other retailers, while Wal-Marts measurements of environmental efficiency among its suppliers helped define how they needed to change.

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IN SPORTS
After battle, taking on world Former prep star overcomes eating disorder to compete for world marathon title. Tera Moodys remarkable comeback has led her to the World Championships marathon in Berlin.

IN SCREENLIFE
Saying goodbye How shows can (and cant) survive the loss of well-loved characters; Rashida Jones and Rob Low say final goodbyes as they depart from Parks and Recreation.

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