Recently in Julian Crews: Bean Quest Category

Thanks to all of you for following the WGN Morning News Blog, known as "Julian's Beanquest."

 

For nearly three years now, I've written about the challenge of launching a small business. 

 

Despite the recession, my family-run enterprise, Old Havana Foods, is alive and kicking.  We're in stores on Chicago's North Shore and our all natural Cuban food is being distributed in New England and shipped overseas - to places like Australia!

 

We're retiring Beanquest and introducing an exciting new wgntv.com feature called, "News Crews."  Our video blog will take you behind the scenes - to show you what goes into gathering news on the streets of the Chicagoland area.  We'll introduce you to the "News Crews" in the field.  You'll meet some of the photographers and engineers who bring the news to you every day.  You'll see how they gather the pictures and sound - and how we edit it all together to bring the latest news o f the day.

 

Hope you'll visit our NEW video blog on wgntv.com.  And if you want to get in touch with me just shoot me a message on jcrews@tribune.com     

 

Check out and go to: www.oldhavanafoods.com

 

(Chicago)  There's something wrong if you can't laugh at yourself.  So in the spirit of laughter and entertainment, I'm baring it all, right here on Julian's Beanquest  (my WGN Morning News blog).  Hope you dont judge me harshly for this astounding fashion faux paus.  Thanks to WGN news photographer, Leo Brucato, for putting this piece together.

      

 

(Chicago) In the famous words of Ozzie Guillen, "you gotta bolieve!"  The Blackhawks are making us believers, after last night's amazing game.  Hawks have now evened up the series against arch-rival, Vancouver.  

What a turn of events!  After falling behind, 3 games-to-none in this 7-game series, even the staunchest Hawk fans thought the season was through.  But it just goes to show you, to borrow another sports cliche, "the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings." 

As we saw today, across the Chicagoland area, Hawks fans were singing with joy.        

 

(Chicago)  In an emergency directive, the Federal Aviation Administration says visual inspections aren't enough, when it comes to older model Boeing 737 airplanes (most of which are flown by Southwest Airlines).  So the agency is mandating regular electronic imaging, to make sure there are not hairline fractures in the body or wings. 

But some experts say no matter how sophisticated the inspection equipment, the bigger issue is how old are the airplanes?  Or how many flight hours does it have?  Critics say weathered planes have to be retired.

And that brings up the question, "do you feel safe getting on an airplane?"  With everything that's happened, would you hesitate to book a flight?  At this point in time? 

     

 

(Chicago)  It's our first international sale!  A pallet of Old Havana Foods is onboard a transport vessel out of New Jersey, making the long journey to Australia.  USAFoods is the name of the specialty food distributor based in Melbourne, Australia.  They called us to order our famous Cuban black beans, Chili Cubano and savory sofrito (Spanish for sauteed seasoning).

Learned something new filling out the shipping documents.  We completed the transaction under the USA - Australia Free Trade Agreement.  It's excting to realize that this agreement between our two great nations allows my tiny family enterprise to compete for business in the "Land Down Under."  Whether we're successful or not depends on the quality and price of our food.  But it's astounding to me that my authentic Cuban specialites will soon be available on the other side of the globe.                         

(Chicago) In case you missed it, here's a LINK to my WGN Morning News interview with Larry & Robin.  We had a caller asking about my public television appearance on the New WYCC-TV cooking show, "Jr. Cuisine."  Talked about my "moonlighting" job with Old Havana Foods, the specialty food company I started two years ago.      

http://www.wgntv.com/videobeta/a2faa016-86b2-4d0f-a7e7-9e4b7b9a591e/Home/Julian-Cuisine-on-The-Jr-Cuisine-Cooking-Show-

 

(Chicago)  There's been a lot of second-guessing when it comes to what happened on Lake Shore Drive during the blizzard.  Although the vast majority of those trapped in their cars praised the emergency response, some still question why paramedics waited so long to rescue motorists. 

It reminds me of covering hurricanes on the Atlantic coast, many years ago, when I worked for WVEC-TV (ABC) in Norfolk, Virginia.  When hurricanes threatened the coast, emergency management bosses ordered mandatory evacuations. 

Inevitably, there'd always be some who refused to leave their homes, taking the risky gamble of riding the storm out.  Top emergency response directors tried to warn folks about the dangers of staying behind.  

If winds reach hurricane force and you get in trouble, they'd say, you can call 911.  But the reality is that choppers don't fly in those kinds of dangerous conditions.  And ambulances can't drive in those kinds of winds (because they'll flip over).  Not to mention the danger of downed power lines or storm surge.  People don't like to hear this, but there are certain situations where it is not always possible for someone to come and rescue you.  

Which brings us back to Lake Shore Drive.  With 25 foot waves battering the shore, and  winds approaching category 1 Hurricane force, there's no doubt people were in a life-threatening predicament.  It was hugely dangerous for firefighters to venture out onto LSD.  A piece of flying glass or debris becomes a deadly projectile, in those kinds of conditions.   But despite the threat, paramedics and firefighters went into harms way, going car-to-car checking on people, reassuring them that they hadn't been forgotten.  And in the beginning, the decision was made (under trying circumstances) to keep people in their cars (because it would have been too dangerous to try and pull people out in those kinds of winds).

So if you think the emergency management of the situation was mishandled, talk to the U.S. Coast Guard or veteran emergency response specialists on the Atlantic coast.  They don't go out in 70 mph winds (because it puts the crews lives at risk). 

If you give it some thought, I think you'll quickly realize that Chicago's finest did everything in their power to prevent loss of life. And in the end, no one died or was seriously hurt.                 

 

(Chicago) A U.S. District judge is expected to hand down a sentence today for Jon Burge, the former Chicago police commander who's long been accused of torturing false confessions out of crimminal suspects decades ago.  We'll bring you the latest developments today on the WGN Midday News.  

Even though a special prosecutor found evidence that Burge was responsible for torturing dozens of prisoners, the statute of limitations prevents a trial on abuse allegations.  But Burge was found guilty of lying to investigators and obstructing justice.       

There will be an 11:45AM press conference with Burge's victims talking about the sentencing and others who are still in jail, wrongfully accused of crimes, they say.    

 

Former Death Row inmate, Gordon "Randy" Steidl, listening to yesterday's Death Penalty debate in Springfield (Chicago Tribune photo)

 

It's not clear if Governor Pat Quinn will sign new legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois.  But backers of the bill are urging him to sign it into law.  

Understandably, there's a lot of emotion surrounding this contentious issue.  Many who've lost a loved one to violence say the death penalty is punishment that fits the crime.  But others point to high profile cases, like Jerry Hobbs as evidence that innocent men are sometimes sent to Death Row. 

Hobbs was wrongfully imprisoned for five years, awaiting trial, accused of murdering his daughter and little friend.  And prosecutors promised to seek the death penalty, if a jury were to convict him.  But D-N-A evidence cleared the former Zion man of wrongdoing.  And Hobbs says he was physically and psychologically abused by Lake County detectives (the North Suburban Major Crimes Task Force).  And he claims he was coerced into confessing.

Over the last three decades in Illinois, 20 men have been freed from Death Row after new evidence came to light.  

Yesterday, the Senate voted to approve the measure, joining the Illinois House.  And if Quinn signs the bill, capital punishment will be outlawed in the Land of Lincoln.  Listening in to the debate yesterday was former Death Row inmate Gordon "Randy" Steidl (see Chicago Tribune picture below).  He spent 12 years in prison until D-N-A evidence cleared his name.

Where do you stand on this difficult issue?  Let us know and we'll post your opinion. 

 

      

 

(Lincoln, IL)  A fascinating new book sheds light on the early adult years of Abraham Lincoln.  Historian and professor emeritus of Lincoln College, Paul J. Beaver, has published an important new addition to the Lincoln canon, called, "Abraham Lincoln in Logan County, Illinois 1834-1860."  Beaver's wonderfully illustrated, 200-page book tells the lessor-known stories of the ambitious young man with high hopes and a restless heart.  On his own, and struggling to find a path in the new territory, Lincoln famously tried his hand at many occupations, in and around Logan County (northeast of Springfield).

From nearby New Salem, the future president was a farm laborer, wrestler, store owner, postmaster, flatboat hand and captain in the Blackhawk War.  And that doesn't even include his later life as a lawyer, part-time judge, inventor and legislator. But did you know the "Railsplitter" was also a land surveyor?  And he enlisted the help of local Indians to help him map out Logan County? 

Beaver takes us back to this hardscrabble, mulit-ethnic world. To illuminate the reality of the frontier, Beaver includes passages from other works of history, such as "Memories of Middletown, Illinois" by Robert E. Church. 

You'll come to understand the intensity and resourcefulness of this intelligent young man in a hurry.  "It was Lincoln's tradition to hire a couple of Kickapoo Indians to make stakes to mark the way," the passage reads. "Lincoln could speak a few Kickapoo words, which he learned from his boyhood friend Konkapod, who he met while living in Indiana.

The illustration below from Beaver's book shows Lincoln

with his Kikapoo mate, surveying the strategic trade route between two of Illinois most established communites - Peoria and Springfield.

Later on, as an up-and-coming lawyer, long before he was a public figure, Lincoln used a watermelon to Christian the town of Lincoln, Illinois.

If you can't get enough of Lincoln, you'll love Beaver's new book, brimming with pictures, maps and illustrations.  To pick up a copy of  Abraham Lincoln in Logan County, Illinois 1834-1860, visit the Lincoln, Illinois bookstore that distributes the book (www.prairieyears.com). Or in Chicago, visit the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop on 357 W. Chicago.