Police in Chicago uncover nearly 1,000 pot plants in city

CHICAGO –  Police in Chicago became farmers for a day Wednesday as they began to chop down a  marijuana farm as big as two football fields found in the city.

The farm, which contains about 1,500 plants and could have netted $7-10 million, was spotted by a police officer and county sheriff's deputy in a helicopter as they headed back to their hangar, MyFoxChicago.com reports.

No arrests had been made as of Wednesday, and police were still trying to determine who owns the property that housed the grow site on the city's far South Side. But police said they were hopeful that because of the size of the operation, informants or others might provide tips about those involved, including a man seen running from the area as the helicopter swooped low.

James O'Grady, the commander of the department's narcotics division, tells The Associated Press they've never seen anything like it before, in part because Chicago's harsh winters mean growers have a lot less time to plant, grow and harvest marijuana than their counterparts in less inclement places such as California and Mexico. The bumper crop was likely planted in spring, O'Grady said.

Add to that the urban sprawl: there are few spots in Chicago where such an operation could go unnoticed because of all the buildings, roads and residents. The growers took pains to ensure their crop was largely hidden by a canopy of trees and surrounding vegetation.

"Somebody put a lot of thought into it," O'Grady said. "But they probably didn't anticipate the helicopter."

Chicago Police Officer Stan Kuprianczyk, a pilot, said police helicopters flew "over it all the time," to and from their hangar, without spying the grow site. Yet somehow, a number of factors came together to allow Cook County Sheriff's Deputy Edward Graney to spot the plants.

"We had the right altitude, the right angle, the right sunlight, and I happened to be glancing down," said Graney. He said he initially spotted five plants or so through the trees before he asked Kuprianczyk to circle around for a closer look.

"We just happened to be right over a small hole in the trees and we looked down," Kuprianczyk said.

They also happened to have the right training, Graney said, explaining that just a few weeks earlier a much smaller operation in suburban Chicago prompted them to fly over and videotape the scene so they might be able to recognize marijuana if they ever saw it from the air again.

So, by the time Graney spotted the marijuana plants, which are a much brighter shade of green than the surrounding vegetation, he had a pretty good idea what he was looking at.

Superintendent Garry McCarthy, whose officers are more used to intercepting shipments of marijuana grown elsewhere or discovering hydroponic growing operations inside buildings, said the discovery of the marijuana is significant in a larger fight against street violence.

Those involved with narcotics, whether it is marijuana, heroin or cocaine, purchase firearms with their profits and have shown they're willing to use them to protect their business, he said.

"That's where the violence comes in, the competition for the markets," he said.

Click for more from MyFoxChicago.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Football Manager 2013 Release Date Announced

SEGA has revealed the latest instalment in the Football Manager franchise will release on November 2 worldwide.

If you can't wait until then though, the company is offering keen players who pre-order the chance to get into the game earlier.

Anyone who pre-orders a physical or digital copy of the game will receive a code that will grant access to a single-player beta version of the game about two weeks before the full game becomes available. This beta will remain playable until November 5, and all saved games and progress made during the pre-release period will be fully compatible with the final release.

Speaking about the decision to offer earlier access, Sports Interactive’s studio director Miles Jacobson said, "Our fans are very good at letting us know what they want and the one thing that’s consistently at the top of their wish list is an earlier release date. While we can’t, strictly speaking, offer them exactly what they want, this Beta version is the next best thing… a fully playable Football Manager they can get their hands on around two weeks before the finished game hits the streets."

Football Manager 2013 will be available on PC and Mac from November 2, and includes new features such as a Classic mode and short-term challenges.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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University of Montana sexual assault scandals bring comparisons to Penn State

Missoula is a long way from Happy Valley and few would confuse the Penn State Nittany Lions football team with the Griz at the University of Montana. But both universities have been wildly successful on the field in the past and both are starting their 2012 football seasons under a dark cloud.

While the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State is well documented, the University of Montana is also defending itself against allegations some officials looked the other way to protect their football program. The Department of Justice is investigating the university’s handling of sexual assault allegations, several made against football players.

“Sexual assault is a problem on campuses across the United States,” says Beth Hubble, co-director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Montana, “and it’s a problem here, too.”

Former running back Beau Donaldson just pleaded guilty to date rape, last year’s star quarterback Justin Johnson is awaiting trial on a charge of sexual assault and the handling of allegations of a gang rape by several football players apparently led to the firing of the head football coach and athletic director last March.

University of Montana president Royce Engstrom says the comparison to Penn State is unfair.

“I guess you could say both schools had some bad things happen, but that’s where the similarities end,” says Engstrom, “Penn State is in the situation they’re in because they spent years not addressing the situation, we took it head on from Day One.”

Engstrom points to a new policy requiring all students to view a tutorial on sexual assault. He will not discuss why he fired head football coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O’Day. The Griz football program has been a Division 1 Double A juggernaut, making the playoffs nearly every year over the past two decades.

The DOJ investigation goes beyond the University of Montana. It’s looking into the handling of hundreds of sexual assaults in Missoula over the past 3 years to see if there’s a pattern of discrimination against women.

Recent graduate Kerry Barrett says she and other women have been victimized twice. Barrett says she was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance last year, and when she reported it to police she was asked if she had a boyfriend. Later, the police chief told her half of all rape reports are false, even though studies put the figure closer to 5 percent. The prosecutor never did file charges.

“They can’t be bothered,” says Barrett, “They don’t want to put in the extra effort to go through with a trial.”

County Prosecutor Fred Van Valkenberg says his office has always aggressively pursued sexual assault cases and is refusing to cooperate with a federal investigation, which he calls illegal. “I am totally unaware of any legitimate complaints that would indicate in any way that anybody in Missoula is discriminating against women,” says Van Valkenberg.

A lifelong Democrat who supported President Obama in 2008, Van Valkenberg is accusing the administration of playing politics.

“It seems to be tied in to the so-called war on women that is being waged at the presidential level,” says Van Valkenberg, “and I find that very disturbing.”

The Department of Justice will not comment on its ongoing investigation. It is not the only probe looking into sexual assault in Missoula. The Department of Education and NCAA also are investigating.

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