Your humble host begins today’s show with a lament – Shouldn’t an individual who has outstanding tickets with the City of Chicago have the right to refuse to pay, fully cognizant that he’s vulnerable to booting, towing, car impoundment, etc? Shouldn’t this same individual, who, for the sake of discussion, has a tax refund coming from the State of Illinois, be free to cash that check and still refuse to pay the City? Yes, this is a bit Ron Paul-ian, but isn’t the City’s grabbing my refund before I get it a grotesque over-reach of government?
Our guests seem less agitated by this outrage. “Ken”, advises WGN’s Randi Belisomo, “You should just pay your tickets.”
Matt Farmer, HuffPo blogger, lawyer and musician, has plenty to say about how the much-discussed “fees and fines” at Noble St. Charters disguise, to some degree, the ways that charter schools can quietly rid themselves of students who drag down the averages.
Paid protesters, Governor Quinn’s style, red-light cameras, new rules curbing audience response in the City Council, and that remarkable hour-long interview/confrontation between Rahm Emanuel and Trib reporter David Kidwell. All on this week’s Chicago Newsroom.
chicagonewsroom.org 
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You should have a right to decide when to pay your tickets and what fines to incur. The city has no right to make itself the first creditor; what if you are paying other bills first? We all decide at times what bills to let slide. Take the State of Illinois, for example; if only it would be forced by the federal government to pay its social service vendors before paying its lawyers, consultants and corporate handmaidens. It’s an outrage, Ken! Hands off my refund! Government is not my accountant, my spouse or my business partner.