All The News That's Fit to Print

Chicago news outlets are all agog over the Indiana legislature pushing stadium stuff to lure the Bears to their beautiful armpit just across the state line. It’s what the stories omit that bothers me. Last year, Hoosier state senator Ryan Mishler led an assault on Medicaid, under the guise of, in Mishler’s words, “right-sizing” the program. [https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2025/02/indiana-senate-passes-medicaid-hip-overhaul-despite-concerns-about-access-coverage/] Guess who was one of the sponsors for the stadium authority bill? Now, guess what the bill omits. If you said participation levels for minority- and women-owned businesses, you’d be right. The Bears love showing how committed they are to their community. Either they employ the most socially-conscious 25-year olds on the face of the earth, or their marketing department does a good job of getting those players to the right hospitals and schools, the ones where the TV cameras are waiting to show them handing out gifts and whatnot. Also consider that Virginia McCaskey was known for her philanthropic efforts. Seems to me that playing in a publicly-funded stadium in Indiana kind of defeats all that, makes the Bears into a bunch of hypocrites. But that’s just my opinion.