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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!COVERAGE IN METRO

By Kathy BergenTribune staff reporter

Mayor Richard Daley saysChicago won’t use local tax rev-enue to host the 2016 Olympics.

That might sound absurd, giv-en that the city would need tobuild several mega-structures,including a track-and-field sta-dium that can seat 75,000, astate-of-the-art aquatics center,and an Olympic Village forthousands of athletes and offi-cials.

But the Olympics has givenbirth to some creative financingschemes—some extraordinari-ly successful, some disastrousfailures—and individuals closeto the planning process thinkthey’ve got a winning idea.

They say the city likely willrely on a series of partnershipswith developers and universi-ties, together with corporateand private donations, to fi-nance the Games, should thecity ultimately win the right tohost them.

And the total cost, they say,should be significantly less thanthe $5 billion to $9 billion thathas been bandied about by out-side observers.

More likely is a total of $4 bil-lion or less. This includes $2.5billion to $3 billion for oper-ations—a sum that any U.S. citycould expect—and another $1billion for construction.

Olympic revenue—from tick-et sales and merchandise, spon-sorships and broadcast rights—should cover operations andthen some. The three Olympicson U.S. soil in the past two dec-

Olympicswon’t betaxing,Daley says

The mayorhas bigplans for 2016, butthey run towardpartnerships, gifts, not taxpayers’ wallets

PLEASE SEE OLYMPICS, PAGE 2

By Ray Longand John ChaseTribune staff reporter

A human resources managerbrought in to direct hiring at astate agency said he struggled tocurb the political muscle thatGov. Rod Blagojevich’s patron-age office flexed there.

A confidential investigation

by the governor’s own executiveinspector general corroboratedthe views of Timothy Walker,who was brought in to be thehead of human resources at theIllinois Department of Employ-ment Security after the personrecommended by Blagojevich’spatronage office proved unqual-ified.

Walker, 50, said his private-

sector experience was unlikewhat he faced from rivals instate government.

“It wasn’t about what wasright,” Walker said when con-tacted by the Tribune. “It wasabout power and politics. It was

very frustrating.”Numerous e-mails corrobo-

rate Walker’s account and sup-port the conclusion that he ulti-mately lost his job over his re-fusal to favor “connected” can-didates, according to a Sept. 9,2004, report by Zaldwaynaka“Z.” Scott, who served as Blago-jevich’s first executive inspec-tor general under a law he

championed.The report was obtained by

the Tribune and made public forthe first time in Sunday edi-tions. The watchdog found theBlagojevich administrationskirted personnel laws, chal-lenging the governor’s conten-tion that qualifications always

Hiring boss battled cloutGovernor’s inspector general backs fired manager’s claims

PLEASE SEE HIRING, BACK PAGE

T R I B U N EI N V E S T I G AT I O N

By Josh WhiteThe Washington Post

WASHINGTON — A formerArmy soldier was charged Mon-day with the alleged rape andmurder of an Iraqi girl and theslayings of three of her familymembers in their home south ofBaghdad in March, federal pros-ecutors said.

Several soldiers allegedlyplanned the attack over drinksafter noticing the girl near thetraffic checkpoint they mannedin Mahmoudiya, according to acriminal complaint filed in U.S.District Court for western Ken-tucky.

The soldiers allegedly workedout an elaborate plot to carryout the crime and then cover itup, wearing dark clothes to thehome, using an AK-47 assault ri-fle from the house to kill thefamily and allowing authoritiesto believe the attack was carriedout by insurgents, according toinvestigators.

Former Pfc. Steven Green, 21,and other members of 1st Pla-toon, B Company, 1st Battalion,502nd Infantry Regiment, of theArmy’s 101st Airborne Division,allegedly carried out the crimesMarch 12. Several soldiers toldauthorities that Green killed allfour people and that he and an-other soldier raped the girl.

The plot worked, at least untilsoldiers began discussing the

incident last month while goingthrough stress counseling aftertwo other members of their pla-toon were captured at a check-point and beheaded by insur-gents. Army officials began in-vestigating the day after hear-ing about the events in Mah-moudiya.

Green had been honorablydischarged from the Army foran unspecified ‘‘personality dis-order’’ before U.S. officials were

Charlotte Observer photo by Patrick Schneider

U.S. marshals take former Pfc. Steven Green, 21, to a federal courthouse Monday in Charlotte.

Ex-GI heldin Iraq rape,killings of 4U.S. alleges thatsoldiers plottedassault, cover-up

Flash point: MahmoudiyaViolence flares in Iraqi townwhere neighbor says U.S. sol-diers stalked, raped girl be-fore killing family. PAG E 10

M O R E I N S I D E

PLEASE SEE SOLDIERS, PAGE 10

By Michael CabbageTribune Newspapers

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA gave the go-ahead for aTuesday launch of shuttle Dis-covery, deciding that the loss offoam insulation off the ship’sfuel tank didn’t endanger itscrew.

Detailed inspections of theshuttle’s tank at the launch padconvinced NASA that the foamloss did not pose a safety hazard.As a result, officials late Mon-day cleared Discovery for flightwithout ordering further in-spections.

“There were no dissenterswhen we went around theroom,” said Bill Gerstenmaier,NASA’s head of space oper-ations. “There were really noconcerns raised, but lots of dis-cussions from many people dur-ing the review.”

NASA stressed that the deci-sion was not driven by schedul-ing. “We’ve laid out the data.We’ve looked at it calmly,” Ger-stenmaier said.

Tuesday’s five-minute launch

Foam losson fuel tankwon’t stopshuttle liftoff

PLEASE SEE SHUTTLE, BACK PAGE

By Aamer MadhaniTribune staff reporter

Fearing a vast overhaul of immigra-tion laws, people who are in the countrylegally but fear that doors might closeon them are racing to become U.S. citi-zens, according to immigrant advocacygroups and federal officials.

Applications for citizenship havesoared 18 percent in the first fourmonths of this year, compared with thesame period last year, according to theU.S. Department of Homeland Security.The agency also noted a similar burstin traffic on the U.S. Citizenship andImmigration Services Web site, whereapplications for citizenship can bedownloaded.

Immigrant advocates have set a sum-

mer goal of helping 10,000 Illinois resi-dents become citizens and registering15,000 new immigrant voters. Activistsin Chicago launched the effort Satur-day at Little Village Lawndale HighSchool, 3120 S. Kostner Ave., with anevent that helped more than 500 legalpermanent residents fill out their citi-zenship applications.

The surge in interest is illustrated bypacked citizenship preparation classesthroughout the city. On a recent morn-ing at the Chinese American ServiceLeague in Chinatown, 40 potential ap-plicants filled every seat in one class-room to improve their English, and 25more advanced students crammed intoa small room two floors above.

Uncertainty over immigration has legal residents packing citizenship classes

Tribune photo by Chuck Berman

Dao Tai Liang follows an English lesson at theChinese American Service League in Chicago.

Becoming Americantakes on new urgency

PLEASE SEE CITIZEN, BACK PAGE

I N S I D E

T E M P O

The best videogames—so far

Eric Gwinn picks his

favorites from the first

half of the year. PAG E 5

B U S I N E S S

Designing carsfor fuller figures

Ford’s virtual

mannequins reflect

Americans’ bigger girth.

SPORTS

BULLS NABWALLACEDetroit’s defensive star coming to Chicago

50¢ City & Suburbs; 75¢ Elsewhere

F I N A L

T U E S D AY , J U LY 4 , 2 0 0 6 ~ C H I C A G O L A N D

160TH YEAR — NO. 185 CHICAGO TRIBUNE