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With their usual lack of healthy reportorial skepticism about Walmart on the Lake, both Chicago dailies, assorted TV stations and other local media earlier this week regurgitated a press release from Lollapalooza promoters C3 Presents assuring residents that this years post-concert clean-up of Grant Park will not linger into the fall as last years did, and that it will cost a mere $150,000 versus the alleged $1 million tab for 2011.

Can we imagine journalists taking anything a politician says at face value, much lessheavens forbid!Drew Peterson? Sources say the repairs will take a lot longer and cost much more than has been reported. Still, Lollapalooza consistently gets a pass and the sunniest of statements are repeated without question.

Before the festival began, we took several preventative steps to protect sensitive areas of the park and limit the potential for damage, the Sun-Times quoted C3 majordomo Charlie Jones as saying in his prepared statement. Now, were determined to put the park in better shape than it was before Lollapalooza.

C3 Presents said much of the work to seed, resod and otherwise rebeautify the north end of the park from the effects of the three-day festival with about 300,000 attendees will take place over the next week to 10 days, added the Tribuneand this despite an Aug. 4 deluge [that] forced Grant Park to be briefly evacuated.

As per usual, the Chicago Park District and the toothless watchdog group the Grant Park Conservancy readily agreed that, yes, everything is just swell, and absolutely, they sure do love Lollapalooza!

One unasked question, however, is obvious just in those brief quotes above: Why are repairs to the park only beginning to take place over the next week to 10 days, a week and a half after the concert ended?

There might be a good answer, but Chicagoans never will know if no one asks the question. Nor will they know that Lollapaloozas deal with the Park Districtboth the old one and the new one that keeps the concert in the citys front yard in perpetuityis unique among all the agreements the city makes with festivals and other private events in the public parks for not imposing a deadline for clean-up or levying the usual steep fines that kick in if a park is not restored within 24 hours.

An even more significant fact that most Chicagoans will not realizeand I missed it in a recent story as well, until a reader reminded me that Id already reported it in the initial stories about the Emanuel administrations new version of the Lollapalooza dealis that C3 and the Park District now engage an independent third party to assess the post-concert damage and put a dollar figure on making the repairs, after which C3 pays the Park District to make the repairs itself.

Under the old deal, the Austin, Texas-based concert promoters both paid for and performed the restoration work.

Here is the language from the new contract: Within a reasonable time following the conclusion of each Festival, the independent third-party shall assess the condition of the Festival Area and establish a cost of repairing and restoring the Festival Area to its Pre-Festival Condition. Upon such determination by the independent third party, C3 shall immediately pay to the CPD [Chicago Park District] an amount equal to such repair and restoration costs. C3 shall be financially responsible for all reasonable costs related to repairing and restoring the Festival Area to its pre-Festival condition.

See original here:
Grant Park clean-up: Taking Lollapalooza at its word

NEW YORK - It's about freakin' time.

The term F-bomb first surfaced in newspapers more than 20 years ago but only landed in the mainstream Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary this week, along with sexting, flexitarian, obesogenic, energy drink, and life coach.

In all, the company picks about 100 additions for the 114-year-old dictionary's annual update, gathering evidence of usage over several years from sources ranging from media to the labels of beer bottles and frozen food.

So who's responsible for lobbing F-bomb far and wide? Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said that she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced the word back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities.

But the word didn't really take off until the late '90's, after basketball coach Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker-room tirade.

"We saw another huge spike after Dick Cheney dropped an F-bomb in the Senate in 2004," and again in 2010 when Vice President Biden did the same thing in the same place, Stamper said.

"It's a word that is very visually evocative. It's not just the F-word. It's F-bomb. You know that it's going to cause a lot of consternation and possible damage," she said.

Many online dictionary and reference sites already list F-bomb and other entries Merriam-Webster is only now putting into print. A competitor, Oxford University Press, has F-bomb under consideration for a future update of its New Oxford American Dictionary, but beat Merriam-Webster to print on a couple of other newcomers: mash-up, added to the Oxford book in 2005, and cloud computing, included in 2010.

No worries, Stamper said. The dictionary biz isn't a race.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gets a cover-to-cover overhaul every decade or so in addition to yearly upgrades. The Springfield, Mass.-based company also picks a defining word of each year closer to Thanksgiving. Among the company's other additions this year, including online at Merriam-Webster.com, and various apps:

Originally posted here:
As the word turns: 'F-bomb' makes Merriam-Webster's

BEALLSVILLE, Ohio -

Coal miners, their families, and supporters of the coal industry gathered in Beallsville, Ohio Tuesday to hear what Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney had to say about the issues that matter to them.

11-year-old Hailey Mallet came to the Century Mine to support her dad and all coal miners.

"It's sort of scary because every day he goes underground and he sort of risks his life because anything could happen to him," she said.

Coal mining is a profession and industry that's important to voters in Easter Ohio. Mitt Romney made a stop on his bus tour in the swing state to convince voters he's a friend of the coal industry.

Jac Chaffee has been working in the coal mines for almost a year and thinks Mitt Romney is a good candidate for president, and says it's hard to find someone who supports the industry.

"It's not looking good for us and we're trying to do everything we can to keep our jobs," Chaffee said.

Alcwyn Elliot was among the hundreds in the crowd Tuesday at the Century Mine and said he agreed with 100 percent of Romney's speech.

The feeling for some coal miner's Tuesday was unexplainable.

"I mean, he could have been anywhere, any coal mine, and he's here today," said Rodney Enos, who'sbeen working in a coal mine for five years.

Read this article:
Coal Miners Hope Romney Keeps His Word

August 14, 2012 (NEW YORK) -- It's about freakin' time. The term "F-bomb" surfaced in newspapers more than 20 years ago but will land Tuesday for the first time in the mainstream Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, along with sexting, flexitarian, obesogenic, energy drink and life coach.

In all, the company picks about 100 additions for the 114-year-old dictionary's annual update, gathering evidence of usage over several years in everything from media to the labels of beer bottles and boxes of frozen food.

So who's responsible for lobbing F-bomb far and wide? Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced it back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had the now-dead Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities.

But the word didn't really take off until the late `90s, after Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker room tirade.

"We saw another huge spike after Dick Cheney dropped an F-bomb in the Senate in 2004," and again in 2010 when Vice President Joe Biden did the same thing in the same place, Stamper said.

"It's a word that is very visually evocative. It's not just the F-word. It's F-bomb. You know that it's going to cause a lot of consternation and possible damage," she said.

Many online dictionary and reference sites already list F-bomb and other entries Merriam-Webster is only now putting into print. A competitor, Oxford University Press, has F-bomb under consideration for a future update of its New Oxford American Dictionary but beat Merriam-Webster to print on a couple of other newcomers: mash-up, added to the Oxford book in 2005, and cloud computing, included in 2010.

No worries, Stamper said. The dictionary biz isn't a race.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gets a cover-to-cover overhaul every decade or so in addition to yearly upgrades. The Springfield, Mass.-based company also picks a defining word of each year closer to Thanksgiving. Among the company's other additions this year, including online at Merriam-Webster.com, and various apps:

The Oprah-inspired "aha moment," the Stephen King-popularized earworm, as in that truly torturous tune you can't get out of your head, and man cave, brain cramp and bucket list.

Read more:
F-word finally makes Merriam-Webster's dictionary

(AP) NEW YORK It's about freakin' time.

The term "F-bomb" surfaced in newspapers more than 20 years ago but will land Tuesday for the first time in the mainstream Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, along with sexting, flexitarian, obesogenic, energy drink and life coach.

In all, the company picks about 100 additions for the 114-year-old dictionary's annual update, gathering evidence of usage over several years in everything from media to the labels of beer bottles and boxes of frozen food.

So who's responsible for lobbing F-bomb far and wide? Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced it back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had the now-dead Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities.

But the word didn't really take off until the late `90s, after Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker room tirade.

Video: English language gets an update Merriam-Webster names "pragmatic" word of 2011 Word of the year: "Austerity" Beats "Socialism"

"We saw another huge spike after Dick Cheney dropped an F-bomb in the Senate in 2004," and again in 2010 when Vice President Joe Biden did the same thing in the same place, Stamper said.

"It's a word that is very visually evocative. It's not just the F-word. It's F-bomb. You know that it's going to cause a lot of consternation and possible damage," she said.

Many online dictionary and reference sites already list F-bomb and other entries Merriam-Webster is only now putting into print. A competitor, Oxford University Press, has F-bomb under consideration for a future update of its New Oxford American Dictionary but beat Merriam-Webster to print on a couple of other newcomers: mash-up, added to the Oxford book in 2005, and cloud computing, included in 2010.

No worries, Stamper said. The dictionary biz isn't a race.

More here:
F-Bomb added to Merriam-Webster dictionary along with sexting, flexitarian and obesogenic