Gov. Bruce Rauner's tweets, how a California drought is threatening our ability to buy vegetables and how the Star Wars series seems like a non-stop flight. A sample of what the DNAinfo Chicago staff is reading, today:
Youse tweetin' at me? New York Daily News columnist James Warren visits a political science convention in Chicago and among the many topics ("The Effects of Droughts on Political Attitudes"!?) up for discussion was the use of social media by U.S. governors. Researcher Anshul Jain of Boston University said most governor tweets are official-ese but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal often send out more personal messages. (Jindal recently wished a guy on Duck Dynasty good luck with a Duck Dynasty musical.) And Christie? "You want to get into a Twitter fight with Chris Christie? He will respond," Jain tells Warren. A survey of Gov. Bruce Rauner's Twitter output by senior editor Andrew Herrmann finds no such battles but there is a picture of Rauner with his dogs and a re-tweet of a Sun-Times story headlined "Illinois is the Worst State to Be a Taxpayer."
Forget Zombies, the Veggie Apocalypse Is Upon Us: How's this for a scary dystopian future — a world with no veggies. Or fruit. Not so far fetched if drought conditions persist in California, reporter Patty Wetli learned. For all the buzz about farmers markets and "local" produce, California remains the source of 95 percent of U.S.-grown broccoli, 91 percent of strawberries, 86 percent of cauliflower and 81 percent of carrots. If the Golden State turns dust bowl, they're taking everyone down with them. Unless, as this article from Mother Jones suggests, southern states pick up the slack. Four million acres devoted to cotton could be converted to growing food and the rest of us could go back to worrying about zombies and aliens.
How Slagel Family Farms Made It Big In Meat: What do West Loop spots Girl & the Goat, the Publican and Avec all have in common? Besides a hard-to-get reservation, they all source meat from Slagel Family Farm. Reporter Stephanie Lulay learned it's not only West Loop restarateurs who have an affinity for the Fairbury-bred meats. Chicago magazine's Carrie Schedler says it's almost impossible to dine out regularly and not come across the farm's name on menu. In total, Slagel Family Farm supplies pork, beef and chicken for about 100 Chicago restaurants, and their farm-to-table fanbase is growing.
The second Death Star under construction in "Return of the Jedi." (Flickr/Serious Cat)
A New, Old Star Wars Story: Hollywood plans a new, standalone "Star Wars" film expected to hit theaters a year after J.J. Abrams' much-publicized sequel, reporter David Matthews is reading in Variety. "Rogue One," starring Felicity Jones, will focus on Rebel attempts to steal Death Star blueprints prior to the events of Episode IV: "A New Hope." "A New Hope," of course, begins with Princess Leia delivering the evil Empire's blueprints via Droid to the desert planet of good guys Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. "Rogue One" is scheduled for a December 2016 release.
Put a Chip In It: It sometimes feels like everything is getting "smart." Sam Cholke is running down the We Put a Chip In It list of objects tech startups thought were too dumb. A stove now has its own opinions about what's too hot. A bike helmet is now listening to your heart beat. And the ultimate question: Who has the smartest socks in the world? They all promise to help to take back control of your life, but from what is not entirely clear.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
