Olympic Gold Medalist and Chicago Marathon Winner Sammy Wanjiru Dies in Fall

Domestic Dispute May Be Cause
Sammy Wanjiru, the 24-year-old Chicago Marathon winner died in a fall from a balcony. Details are unclear, but according to some reports, Wanjiru was involved in a domestic dispute. In October, Wanjiru won the Chicago Marathon for a second time. Wanjiru was the first Kenyan to win an Olympic gold medal in the marathon.

Camera crew filming front-runner, Sammy Wanjiru, eventual the winner of the 2010 Chicago Marathon

Check out the video below of Wanjiru running up S. Michigan Ave. in the South Loop, just minutes from the finish line. Wanjiru's marathon performance in the Chicago Marathon was the fasted ever recorded.

Mayor apologizes, sort of

In a budget hearing (Tuesday August 25) at the South Shore Country Club, Mayor Richard M. Daley veered off script when it came to taking responsibility for what many have called the "parking meter mess."

The prepared statement from the mayor that was circulated to the press, included the line "we screwed up" regarding the parking meter situation. However, the mayor chose not to read the statement as written and said, "I take responsibility for that. The implementation was not good at all from the city's side." In the end, the mayor believes the new parking meter arrangement will benefit the city financially.

The hearing also questioned what some see as Daley's single-mindedness in regard to the 2016 Olympic bid. The mayor acknowledged the general unease surrounding the bid and the costs involved, but said he's  "confident the city will make a profit, not one cost to Chicago taxpayers."

According to the mayor's office, the economic situation isn't looking too good. The mayor's office is predicting a $500 million budget deficit next year "because all revenue has gone down." Some Chicago merchants suggest that the 400 percent increase in meter rates might be a contributing factor.


For the full report on Tuesday's meeting click here.

Economists question Olympic economic benefits

An economic professor questions Mayor Richard M. Daley's assertion that the 2016 Olympics would boost Chicago's economy by $22.5 billion. Several economists think this boost is highly unlikely.

Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, who studies the impact of the Olympics on host cities called the mayor's claims "crazy."According to the article in today's Chicago Business, that figure far exceeds the benefits of other host cities.  A big part of the $22.5 billion figure is based on a boost in tourism during and five years after the Olympics.

The organizers of the Olympics in Sydney, predicted a $2.5 billion boost in tourism five years after the games, but that "never materialized."

What do you think? Will the Olympics be a boom or bust for the city?