Articles: politics

Amazing, Betty White is about to celebrate her 99th birthday, and my dear OLD friend Paul Lisnek is the only person around I know who can call her “kiddo.” Paul, political analyst at WGN TV, and I talked about his latest book, how Chicago theaters are dealing with the pandemic and our ice-cream WAR at…

According to Chicago French Bulldog Rescue, on August 31st, approximately 20 dogs were confiscated from a warehouse within Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. These dogs arrived from Jordan on Royal Jordanian Airlines several days prior and inexplicably remained languishing for days in a warehouse without food and water, living in small cages in their own feces and urine. All…

Certainly we love our pets as we never have before, and they are mostly treated as such. Listen HERE to Steve Dale’s Pet World on WGN radio, as I chat with Mark Cushing.  founding partner and CEO of the Animal Policy Group authored, Pet Nation: The Love Affair That Changed America.  This is a stimulating conversation, ranging from…

Filling in for Anna Davlantes on WGN Radio you can hear listen HERE my first question out of the box for Alderman Brian Hopkins, 2nd Ward. What happened to that bill which would have closed the loophole preventing just a few stores to continue to evade the law and sell puppies in Chicago? Hopkins said (as…

Pets will apparently be voting in the Presidential election, according to President Trump. He says mail-in voting is so insecure that dogs will receive ballots. Well, the President is in error, because it’s not a dog but a cat who allegedly received a mail-in ballot. Apparently cats and not dogs have earned the right to…

President Trump signed the  PACT Act — which stands for Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture. Here’s my scorecard: Six points about the new law. While animal cruelty has for several years been considered a Federal crime, the definition of what constitutes an animal cruelty felony varies state to state. The PACT Act offers prosecutors uniformity.…

Chicago Alderman Ray Lopez (15th Ward) is back at it. When asked about what animal experts he collaborated with to craft a bill regarding controlling farm animals in Chicago, he said a city lawyer, his staff and the Director of Chicago Animal Care and Control (who technically works for Lopez). “We are very surprised that…

Chicago Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas actually has a pet platform. As far as I know the first Mayoral candidate of a major city to do that. As he indicates HERE on my WGN Radio Steve Dale’s Pet World Radio show, I was a motivating force for him doing that. And thrilled now to provide my…

Illinois state legislature hopes to ban sales of dogs and cats at pet stores in Will and DuPage counties. I speak with Suzanne Hart, Will County Board Chairperson, with Paul Lisnek, host of Politics Tonight on CLTV. I have no issue with responsible breeders. I point out that the American Kennel Club (AKC) is out in…

Check out some of the best of my podcasts from Steve Dale’s Other World on WGN Plus, heard 2 – 5 a.m. filling in for Nick Digilio, right HERE. I replayed excerpts of some of my favorite podcasts from 2017, including: * Behind-the-scenes stories from the Lincoln Park Zoo with former Director Dr. Lester Fisher,…