Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni. ✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
Presidential candidate Jeb Bush commented on the decision not to indict the police officers who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice yesterday, saying, "I think that Chicago's got a lot of work to do to rebuild trust. The level of violence is abhorrent." When reminded that the Rice case was in Cleveland, he said, "I'm sorry, my bad."
Remember the call for DNA samples from people who believed their family had been killed by John Wayne Gacy? The results have cleared 11 unrelated cold cases.
Technically, it's illegal to place ads on city property -- as in, a concert poster on a lamppost -- but it's rarely enforced. However, RCP Publications (the local communist press) is challenging the law in court after it was fined $350 for hanging posters for a documentary screening, potentially paving the way for flyers all over the place.
A grand jury did not indict the jailers in Texas where Chicagoan Sandra Bland died. However, the jury reached no decision regarding charges against the officer who arrested her, and will meet again in January to continue deliberation. Not surprisingly, Bland's family was disappointed in the decision.
A sleeping patron from North Dakota pulled a gun on a Pump Room manager when awoken. He was eventually escorted by security to his room at the Public Hotel, where the police met him later.
"For the citizens of a community to trust the police, they have to know that they aren't being systematically lied to." The New Yorker on Chicago's relationship with its police force.
Sheriff Tom Dart has been thwarted in his attempt to shut down Backpage.com, a site where "adult services" are listed. Dart says Backpage is facilitating prostitution and sex trafficking, but an appeals court ruled that the site is protected under the First Amendment.
A UIC student is under arrest as the suspected issuer of the mass shooting threat at University of Chicago that canceled classes today. The Tribune reports that the suspect made his threat in a comment on WorldStarHipHop on Sunday, prompting another site visitor to notify the FBI.
As the CPD braces for the release of the video in the Laquan McDonald case, the officer involved in the shooting will be charged with murder, according to anonymous sources. Meanwhile, Supt. McCarthy announced his intent to fire Dante Servin, the officer who was acquitted in the off-duty shooting death of Rekia Boyd (previously).
Lots of people on Facebook are sharing a Tribune story about four gang members admitting they killed a 9-year-old because they thought he was snitching. You'd be forgiven if you thought it was current events, and also if you found this incredibly depressing.
After a Lincoln Towing driver taunted and berated a long line of concertgoers whose cars were towed while at a concert at the Aragon -- and then assaulted and tried to run over a cyclist who tried to talk some sense into him -- Ald. Ameya Pawar is threatening to force the long-problematic company out of Uptown. (Previously.)
Five Cook County judges received letters saying they're on a "kill list." Ten years ago, Judge Joan Lefkow's mother and husband were murdered in her Andersonville home.
You might be profiled as a drug dealer. DEA officers searched Issa Serieh as he exited a plan from Chicago to Los Angeles, and confiscated more than $30,000 in cash without charging him -- apparently simply because he had flown that particular route and was carrying a backpack.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert will serve little (if any) prison time after pleading guilty to a federal financial crime. Since no one will take the stand, the details will remain secret, but anonymous sources have said he was hiding bank withdrawls from authorities in order to pay hush money to a former student.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art's imperial march to the lake shore was delayed a week or more -- by the need to reach an agreement with the Chicago Bears, who hold a lease on the parking lot the museum plans to build on.
The NYTimes tested the cost of loading mobile advertisements on 50 high profile websites and found that the Trib was among the worst. On an LTE 4G network, it took an average of 12.9 seconds to load the Trib's front page, 9.5 seconds of which was due to advertisements. That means it costs a typical mobile user 9.5 cents to load the ads, and only 3.4 cents for the content.
Alice, the Chicago Botanic Garden's other corpse flower, has unexpectedly bloomed. The garden will be open till 2am tonight and 8am to 7pm tomorrow for your stinky viewing pleasure. [via]
Lincoln Towing, hated by anyone who's had their car towed by them, was cited for unauthorized towing -- and the driver who did the towing got a ticket for talking on his cellphone as he reached the tow lot.
The latest attempt to organize a corgi beach meetup in Chicago got an immense amount of attention, and the Facebook event is no longer publicly accessible.
Apparently Chicagoans are the kindest to tourists in our tweets, according to a study by Twitter which must be accurate because computers are great at detecting sarcasm.
An epidemic of heroin addiction is causing a surge in demand for already-strained treatment programs, while budget cuts mean state funding will likely decline.
NASA released high-resolution images today of Pluto and its moon, the planet no more that was discovered by Illinoisan Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, sent back from the New Horizons spacecraft. Tombaugh's ashes were even on the spacecraft as it passed the planet, allowing the man to meet his discovery. You can watch a live stream of NASA's analysis of the photos via the Guardian here.
Moderators of Chicago's local Reddit page are starting from scratch as Reddit itself faces an upheaval from users upset with its new moderation policies.
A Chicago police officer who shot 16 times at the wrong car and then provided false information about the incident in 2011 should be fired, said an Independent Police Review Authority recommendation uncovered by the Reader, the first time the authority has recommended such action.
It took Chicago a few years to build it, but this weekend you can celebrate The Bloomingdale Trail and the associated 606 park system. Details for the festival abound at the 606 website. There will be food, art installations, a ribbon cutting and dance lessons just to kick things off.
Chicago ranks number 7 on the 2015 Global Cities Index conducted by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. The index of 125 cities measures how globally engaged each city is across 26 metrics in five dimensions--business, human capital, info exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.
In a Q&A on The Marshall Project website, University of Chicago Crime Lab co-director Harold Pollack compares recent events in Waco, Texas, with gang violence in Chicago.
The Emanuel administration decided to delay plans Monday to refinance $383 million of the city's debt after Moody's downgraded the city's credit rating by two levels to junk on May 12. The refinancing would have been part of a plan to reduce the level of variable-rate debt to a fixed rate.
Last night, President Obama demolished the record for the fastest time to reach one million followers on Twitter with the creation of his personal account, @POTUS. The account reached one million followers in less than five hours. #recordbreaker
The Illinois State Police are planning to use drones in some vague way that they swear won't be surveillance. Meanwhile, the Chicago Park District is seeking to limit drone use in the city's parks without a permit.
Chicago Magazine revisited its investigation alleging Chicago police routinely reclassified crimes so overall statistics would show crime going down, and found not much has changed.
Hundreds of demonstrators showed solidarity with those in Baltimore and spoke out against police violence Tuesday, marching from CPD headquarters on the South Side to Hyde Park.
CPD Chief Garry McCarthy is going on a listening tour to meet with residents to hear their concerns and build trust between police and the community. Meanwhile, McCarthy also said that the criminal charges of brought against Det. Dante Servin in the Rekia Boyd case would "provide a safety hazard" as officers might be more hesitant about using their guns.
The Great Chicago Fire Festival on the river was, you may recall, a bit of a bust. City Council and Redmoon are planning changes to make sure it's better this year.
Trespassing incidents at O'Hare, including a guy who rode his bike across the runways, are among the airport perimeter breaches detailed in an AP investigation
The Tree House Humane Society is gearing up to break ground on a doozy of a cat house (no, not that kind of cat house). It's an animal shelter and clinic that will also host a cafe where you can interact with adorable cats up for adoption!
Yellow Cab is declaring bankruptcy after losing a $25.9 million verdict in a wrongful injury case. It probably won't affect you very much, but it does mean the woman left with severe brain damage after an accident won't receive much money.
An Orland Park man had a seizure and blacked out after trying some super-hot hot sauce while on vacation, and an MRI at the hospital revealed an early-stage brain tumor. Once home, the cancer was removed at Northwestern Memorial, and he's expected to make a full recovery. [via]
The LA Times compares the controversial plan to site the potential Obama presidential library on Chicago Park District property to previous presidential library plans.
After searching more than 2,600 bags and packages on CTA train stations over four months, police found no explosives and made one arrest -- of someone who refused to submit to a search.
Lee Varon, co-owner of pizza place The Squared Circle with his wife, Lisa Marie Varon (aka WWE Diva Victoria), easily subdued a man who came into the restaurant's kitchen with a gun Saturday night. TMZ uncovered video of the incident.
The former owners of an electric car-charging company were charged with fraud after failing to deliver on their contract to build charging stations in Chicago and elsewhere.
Surveillance video of yesterday's widely-reported theft of a minivan full of dogs reveals that the driver was not carjacked by two men, but that the car was taken while unlocked and unattended.
The Chicago Ridge and Ford City malls are banning teenagers on Friday and Saturday nights unless accompanied by adults in order to encourage a more family-friendly atmosphere.
A police officer at the Stickney Water Treatment Plant accidentally revealed the existence of a secret drinking room in the plant while giving a new officer a tour. The officer, now suspended, also used quite a few racial slurs, leading Water Reclamation District to launch a broader investigation of employee behavior.
Police SUVs and emergency vehicles got stuck on the unplowed side streets yesterday, thanks to a batch of two-wheel drive SUVs purchased a few years back.
Professional eater Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, whose Taco in a Bag restaurant will soon open in Lincoln Square, won the 23rd annual Wing Bowl in Philadelphia, devouring 444 hot wings in three rounds.
Rahm Emanuel is escalating the pattern started by his predecessor, Richard M. Daley, in selling off parts of the city to private enterprise. In These Timesreports on how everything from school services to infrastructure is being sold to bulk up the city budget.
Gov. Rauner was in a traffic accident in the Loop yesterday: two vehicles crashed at Michigan and Randolph, and one of them hit the governor's SUV, which was waiting at the light. He was not injured.
Heather Mack, the Oak Park teen who is about to stand trial in Indonesia for the murder of her mother Sheila von Wiese Mack, is suing her uncle, the executor of her late mother's estate, for money to pay for her legal defense.
Federal prosecutors are seeking leniency for for two top Chicago drug dealers because of their "unparalleled cooperation" in informing on their confederates.
Neighborhood groups and strip clubs don't usually get along, but the Albany Park Neighbors gave an award to the Admiral Theatre for helping to keep their area clean.
Three men were stopped in Portland, Maine with a truck full of energy-efficient light bulbs, which they bought using a Maine subsidy with the intention of selling them in Chicago at a profit. They would've gotten away with it, too, if they hadn't left it parked in front of a federal courthouse for too long.
Some nearby Acuras were engulfed in salt when a wall at the Morton Salt plant collapsed this afternoon. No word on new markdowns at the dealership. (No injuries were reported.)
Police are investigating allegations that an Uber driver raped one of his passengers. Coincidentally, on Monday Uber was banned in New Delhi following the report of a rape by one of its drivers there. UPDATE: Uber has removed the driver from service and is cooperating with the investigation, the AP reports.
The number of Chicagoans living in middle-class neighborhoods is steadily declining, with more people living in affluent or poor areas instead, writes Whet Moser.
Chicago Magazine's selections for Chicagoans of the Year include the Jackie Robinson West Baseball Team, Latino activist Juan Andrade, Sister Rosemary Connelly, author Stuart Dybek, and nonprofit founder Amy Lehman.
Well, sort of. The iconic water tower of Andersonville will be replaced with a replica, as the original was too badly damaged last winter to be repaired. Instead, the old tank will be broken up into souvenirs by its owner, the Swedish American Museum.
A Japanese woman is suing the City after she was fined for going topless at North Avenue Beach on Go Topless Day this summer. A judge charged her with public indecency last month so that she could challenge the city's ordinance in the name of equal gender rights.
Alstory Simon is now free, after Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez vacated charges against him in a 1982 murder case. Simon was convicted after confessing to investigators with the Chicago Innocence Project, but it was later determined that his conviction was coerced. It's another black eye for Northwestern and former professor David Protess; the organization's predecessor, the Medill Innocence Project, was shut down amid allegations of falsification and coercion.
Yesterday, amid its own coverage of alleged serial killer in Darren Deon Vann, CBS2Chicago.com published an amateurish satirical article about a "severed body" being found under the Loop el tracks.
Residents of Lafayette, IN have long believed that former residents of Chicago's projects were the cause of increasing violent crime and drugs in the area. In a two-part investigative report, the Lafayette Journal-Courier shows that's just not true.
After a year of covering the impact of false imprisonment on people who've been released from jail, Alison Flowers reflects on how the system could ever repay them.
Chicago Ideas Week kicks off today, featuring events highlighting big-picture insights from speakers like Captain Richard Phillips, George Lucas, and Sean Combs.
Karen Lewis has relinquished her duties as head of the Chicago Teachers Union. Lewis has been hospitalized since Sunday for undisclosed reasons; CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey is filling in until Lewis recovers.
The Chicago Law Bulletin profiles attorney Marta Almodovar of the Cook County Circuit Court's Mandatory Arbitration Center, a Polish-American who helped organize a judicial exchange between Cook County and Poland.
That's how the lawyer tracking the offenses of Commander Glenn Evans describes the officer recently charged with excessive force after allegedly sticking his gun in the mouth of a suspect.
An unused rail line in Englewood may be turned into an elevated park similar to The 606 on the North Side. See also "The Area," Gapers Block's award-winning short documentary about the Englewood neighborhood of the same name that's being demolished to make room for a new rail yard.
Following the well-deserved fanfare for Jackie Robinson West's win at the Little League National Championships, one player and his family will be receiving free housing for one year courtesy of a funeral home after it was revealed that they are homeless.
The Chicago Housing Authority is decreasing the value of its "super vouchers" after receiving criticism for helping low-income recipients live in expensive apartments downtown.
While crime is trending down citywide, factors like families, wealth, housing, and immigration may provide insights into whether crime in a neighborhood is likely to go up.
A 19-year-old suburban woman was kicked off a Metra train at the so very scary Jefferson Park station at 11pm recently because she didn't have enough money for a ticket home. While that's apparently against Metra policy, NBC 5 felt the need to cite Chicago's "violent summer" to somehow make this seem like a dangerous situation.
Samuel Walker Sr., a member of the Vice Lords gang, was shot and killed yesterday morning in Homboldt Park, less than a week after his 13-year-old son, Samuel Walker Jr., was shot and killed.
Charges filed against a crew with suspected mafia ties show how the FBI tracked the group and eventually arrested them for crimes including home invasions, armed robberies, burglaries, arson, insurance fraud, and prostitution.
The DuSable Museum of African American History, Museum of Science and Industry, the University of Chicago's museums and others have joined forces to create the Museum Campus South.
A man suffering from schizophrenia gouged out one of his own eyes while detained in southern California for a parole violation, and attempted to gouge out the other after he was transferred to Cook County Jail. He's been outfitted with a hockey mask and mittens to prevent further self-harm while in custody.
A City employee disarmed security systems overnight at a facility where 4,000 pounds of copper wire worth $21,800 was stolen, according to the inspector general.
Two guns were found on CTA buses yesterday. One was discovered by the driver as he broke up a fight; at least one of the young men involved was arrested. In a separate incident, a passenger found a small gun left on a seat, and accidentally shot another passenger in the leg.
A robber allegedly held a man at gunpoint and demanded his possessions, but gave the victim his cellphone back because it wasn't an iPhone or better phone worth taking.
There's already a state law against it, but City Council just passed an ordinance making upskirting -- taking photos up women's skirts -- punishable by a $500 fine.
Four years after beating Stacy Jurich and Natasha McShane with a bat and one year after pleading guilty, Heriberto Viramontes was sentenced to 90 years in prison, and must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before being eligible for parole.
The City received over $169 million from the federal government to deal with vacant properties, but as the money was spent on projects all over the map, it's unclear if it made any impact on blighted areas.
While Chicago's electric vehicle-charging network was planned to be one of the largest and fastest-charging in the country, many of the stations in the area are out of order thanks to lawsuits and investigations by the FBI.
The Chicago Police Department is cutting back its use of lineups to save time and money, and will ask witnesses to identify suspects in photos instead.
Amer Ahmad, the former City comptroller who fled to Pakistan in an attempt to avoid prosecution for corruption at his previous job as Ohio deputy state treasurer, kept a journal of his escape.
Window washers at Lurie Children's Hospital don superhero costumes before swinging by patients' windows, bringing a little more light to their hospital rooms. [via]
Patrick Weier, one of the guys behind the unofficial Cubs mascot Billy Cub, got in a fight Saturday with a patron at John Barleycorn who removed his head. Weier says he was provoked.
"We've all dozed off driving a train [or a car]," said Robert Kelly, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, in defense of the CTA driver who crashed a Blue Line train into the escalator at O'Hare earlier this week. The driver worked 69 hours last week in on-call shifts with no set schedule, Kelly said.
Buzzfeed thinks you probably don't know these 50 things about Chicago, including spray paint was invented here in 1949, Western Avenue is the longest continuous street in the world, and the first automobile race in the U.S. was held here in 1895.
The first negligence lawsuits have been filed by two passengers in Monday's CTA Blue Line derailment, and as a fun bonus, video of the crash has emerged.
Yesterday's death of former Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps brought to mind the protest-happy group's past trips to Chicago, most recently visits to University of Chicago, UIC and downtown, and to several synagogues.
Elvira Arellano, the undocumented immigrant who took refuge in a local church, igniting a fierce debate over deportation of parents of American-born children, is seeking refugee status in the US after allegedly receiving kidnapping threats for her human rights activism in Mexico.
Yesterday's standoff on Lake Shore Drive led to chaos on the streets as motorists found ways to get off the road. A fire at Hollywood and Kenmore this morning closed the Hollywood entrance to the Drive during rush hour.
One of the men convicted in the Brown's Chicken Massacre case just won a civil rights lawsuit against the state. James Degorski was awarded $451,000 in compensation for a beating he received from a Cook County Sheriff's deputy as he entered prison to serve his life sentence.
Oscar nominees who fail to get a golden statue may lose hope, but at least they can get some hair back using a voucher for free hair transplants from a Chicago surgeon.
A 21-year-old man is facing charges for a methamphetamine lab for the second time in less than one year, but that's not the best part. The suspect appears in his booking photo wearing a Los Pollos Hermanos t-shirt, representing the fictional fast-food chain created on the television show "Breaking Bad."
A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with a felony for allegedly throwing a snowball at a police officer on Wednesday. The unnamed boy claims the snowball hit the vehicle, not the officer, but the eighth-grader is still facing juvenile court and a five day school suspension.
Doctors in the University of Illinois Hospitals' Chicago surgical department is under scrutiny after endorsing a surgical robot in a NYTimes advertisement. Some of the doctors failed to report compensation from the company running the ad, violating U of I's code of ethics.
A time lapse video taken by photographer Albert Bartkus from a balcony along the Chicago River provides a unique glimpse of the ice as it breaks and flows away. [via]
Sites that use scraper code to grab mugshots off police websites (so they can post them on their own sites and charge people to have them removed) have brought the Cook County Sheriff's website to its knees in recent weeks. The "inmate locator" section of the site now sports a captcha to fend off the bots.
The Chicago police released the official tally for the number of shootings in the city last weekend: zero. (For the record, the Chicago police do not typically include self-inflicted gunshot victims in their count.)
Someone carved a thoughtful message in the snow visible from several of the hospital rooms inside Rush University Medical Center: "Hi Mom, God Bless U!"
Mysterious vibrations are rattling many Hyde Park residents who want to know what's causing them, with theories ranging from pipes, to construction, to secret experiments conducted by the University of Chicago underground.
Former Mayor Daley's nephew Richard Vanecko will serve 60 days in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the 2004 death of David Koschman, who died after Vanecko hit him during a drunken fight.
TV reporters are no strangers to standing outside in ridiculous weather, and their helpful strategies include everything from battery-powered socks to ninja suits.
Even after handing over his cell phone to two robbers, Kevin Baker was shot Thursday afternoon while walking home from school. The 19-year-old Harold Washington College freshman died Saturday.
With the trial of the NATO 3 set to begin next week, prosecutors dropped four of the 11 counts against them, although they still face terrorism-related charges for allegedly planning attacks during the 2012 NATO Summit.
Labrador retrievers are the most popular dogs on the North Side, while South Siders prefer pit bulls, according to a look at registered pets by DNAInfo.
So the arctic cold is gone and the snow is melting, but that water and rain together means potential flooding across the city, or at least in that one spot where you have to cross the street.
A music maker, custom pinball machines, and smartphone-controlled blinds are among Chicago's contributions to the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
If your street is still covered in snow, you're not alone. According to the Sun-Times, city aldermen have been receiving hundreds of side-street snow removal complaints this week. Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles Williams said he's limiting salt use to manage the city's supply.
Two former Chicago cops were caught boasting on a tape about plans to mutilate a kidnapping victim's genitals. Moments before their kidnapping attempt, the two were arrested. Last year one of them was also accused of planning to extort and murder a local strip club owner.
While the bitter cold seemed to keep people from shopping or ice skating outside, things stayed busy at bars and breweries across Chicago as many workers with the day off made the most of their free time.
Chicago's Department of Transportation often lagged behind goals for repairing potholes and responding to 311 requests, while also keeping inaccurate records to make their performance seem better, according an audit by the Office of Inspector General.
A University of Chicago plastic surgeon wore Google Glass during an operation, allowing him to look at X-Ray and MRI images without looking away from his patient.
Dennis Rodkin points out that despite a much-hyped spike in the retail market, home prices in high-foreclosure neighborhoods where the biggest gains are taking place are still where they were in 1997.
With the City continuing to roll out Divvys, protected lanes, and other bike-friendly measures, a fair question remains: who is going to pay for this stuff?
The Drake hotel's signature bright pink neon sign was replaced with a more reliable, energy-efficient LED version, but the color is more purple than its predecessor. Does it matter?
Sold in Chicago almost a year ago, a lottery ticket worth $250,000 and another worth $100,000 still haven't been claimed, and will expire if the prizes are not collected in the next couple of weeks.
Chicago's top trending searches of the year were "Paul Walker" and "Blackhawks" according to Google. When it came to Chicagoans asking "what is" and "how to," both "What is twerking" and "How to twerk" were the most popular.
Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields is alleging that at least two arbitrated police contracts were "fixed." On the other hand, some in the police community don't believe Shields is so trustworthy himself.
The family and widow of Urooj Khan, who was poisoned last year right after winning the lottery, have reached a settlement to split his estate. Part of the agreement is that neither side may sue the other for wrongful death unless new evidence as to who did it comes forward.
Former Republic Windows CEO Richard Gillman was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $500,000 from the company.
When one woman moved from New York from Chicago the moving company held her belongings hostage and demanded thousands of dollars in additional payment.
Undercover officers are taking to the streets Downtown to watch out for pickpockets and other thieves as people head to the shops to do their holiday shopping.
A strange, text-speak message on the side of a school in Woodlawn has teachers and parents scratching their heads. See if you can decipher it: "Lol :) liv / do u kno y? / gr8 com cr8s gr8 ppl / a ______ jrny sts w/1 stp/ me2+u2=we2."
Mother's and other bars along the eastern edge of Division St. are seeking "historic" status, even if much of the history made there is of hookups that people may want to forget.
In another step towards Peace on Earth, a referendum by the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas may end the ages-old feud between Santas with real beards and those with artificial ones.
Some of the photographers laid off from the Sun-Times may be heading back to work as part of an agreement made between the paper and the Newspaper Guild.
While "selfie" was selected as Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year, RedEye's Mick Swasko says some local options are better, like: Ventrapocalypse, Divviot, and O'Halligator.
Scientists from the Field Museum discovered a new "top predator" dinosaur that sat atop the food chain in North America well before Sue -- or any other T. Rex for that matter -- ever existed.
Hackers targeted another Chicago media outlet, this time taking over several social media accounts run by the Chicago Tribune. They're back under the Trib's control now.
Red Line trains were briefly delayed on Saturday by a nude woman calling herself the "goddess of the train." She verbally and physically attacked riders until police removed her from the train at Granville.
As Chicagoist noted, "maybe these incidents are happening because people aren't getting the quality mental health care they need." Artist Justin Younger took the incident as inspiration for a new painting.
Lawyers for the City are considering a lawsuit against drug manufacturers for understating the addictive nature and overstating the benefits of opiate-based painkillers in their marketing.
Followers of Felines & Canines have no doubt been moved by the shelter's loving crusade to help abandoned dog, Willow, who recently was found near death in an alley. The brave pooch is slowly improving, thanks to generous donations (not fake ones), but they could use some more donations and advocates of their "Say Something" campaign to aid neglected animals.
As they've often done when disaster strikes, Threadless is offering up a t-shirty option for those who are looking for a way to help out people in the Philippines who've been affected by Typhoon Haiyan. 100% of net shirt proceeds from the sale of the tee will be donated to Architecture for Humanity. (You can also donate to nonprofits like the Red Cross, UNICEF and other organizations.)
Activists and the family of a man who was unarmed when he was shot in the back and killed by a Chicago police officer in 2011 are calling for a federal investigation into the case after Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said she would not bring charges against the cop.
A Texas man claimed he had been shot while driving near Michigan Avenue on Saturday night, but police determined it must have happened elsewhere (and was possibly drug-related) when no shell casings or broken glass were found near where the incident supposedly occurred.
A cyclist who was riding a rented tandem bike when he was doored and then hit by a car is receiving a $700,000 settlement, including $350,000 from the rental company for not providing him with a helmet or training on safe riding.
A group of Marines heading home from Afghanistan received a hero's welcome as they headed through O'Hare to their connecting flight, on which seven First Class passengers vacated their seats so the soldiers could take them.
As part of a performance by Swedish electronic duo Dada Life, over 3,800 people crammed into the Aragon pelted each other with pillows, setting a new Guinness world record for largest pillow fight.
While it's pretty clear fears of predators and poisoned candy on Halloween are unfounded, some parents are turning to "trunk or treating" between cars in parking lots as a safer alternative.
A local food vendor's money was almost gone with the wind when he dropped stacks of cash on the ground, but his superhero costume-clad grandchildren wrangled the bills before they blew away.
Former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. began his time in prison on Tuesday, but his efforts to gain publicity in the process are probably not the best idea, say experts who advise keeping a low profile instead.
Giuliana Rancic's extensive guide to Chicago for E! Online covers River North (known "North Loop" in the guide) and no further than Lincoln Park's Original Pancake House.
Speaking of weddings on the cheap, a couple got married on the sly at the Art Institute this weekend, in front of Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte."
Carl Chatman, exonerated last month of a 2002 rape he didn't commit, was arrested by Berwyn police for not registering as a sex offender -- which he is not required to do since he was cleared of guilt.
A viral video of pranksters sneaking into a restaurant after-hours to cook pizzas for the homeless didn't take place in Chicago (as some media are misreporting), but we'll take some credit since the pies were baked at a Chicago-style eatery in Columbus, OH.
Forbes profiles two former payday loan company owners who are now buying up thousands of South Side apartments, applauding their redevelopment work as succeeding where government failed, despite the company's lack of civic values.
AOL's Patch is laying off its last remaining local editors in Chicago. The sites will stick around, but there won't be anyone dedicated to reporting on those neighborhoods.
Abandoned properties in Englewood are turning into dumping grounds that attract rats "so big the cats are scared." Residents want action, but the City can't trespass to kill rats on private property.
Two UC professors have been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for their work in asset prices (I don't know what that is, either). Fun fact: one of these awardees is known as the "Father of Modern Finance."
Construction workers digging up human remains in the Gold Coast is actually not a big deal- thousands of bodies are still buried where cemeteries used to be.
If you prefer your news with some double entendre, you'll enjoy DNAinfo's coverage of a man who removed his clothes before representing himself in court: Hung Jury in Trial of Naked Man.
That's what Ald. John Arena did when he spotted two men working under a parked car with a Sawzall earlier this summer. He jotted down their license plate and helped police bust catalytic converter thieves.
Collar & Leash, the city's oldest pet shop, is going out of business after its owners stopped selling dogs and cats because they could not tell if the animals came from puppy mills.
Police say the men suspected of firing indiscriminately into Cornell Square Park and injuring 13 people last week were retaliating for a shooting earlier in the day where one of them was grazed in the leg by a bullet.
A Mississippi newspaper has published the full list of this year's MacArthur Genius Grant recipients a few hours ahead of the requested press time (whoops!). Among them is Steppenwolf ensemble member and playwright Tarell McCraney.
Chicago Tribune reports two more people, including the suspected gunman, have been charged in last week's mass shooting in the Back of Yards neighborhood that left 13 wounded.
Following last week's shooting at a basketball court that injured 13 people in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, the Tribune calls the area a "no man's land" for police and politicians.
The CHA recently dropped 47,000 people who were homeless or otherwise looking for housing from its waiting list after they failed to respond to a letter sent by the agency.
A judge ordered pitch man Kevin Trudeau thrown in jail after finding out he was actually living lavishly while claiming he couldn't afford to pay a court-ordered fine.
A Northwestern University study found that anyone living near a liquor store or bar on the South or West side is 500 times more likely to be shot than their neighbors.
Measuring the use of stop-and-frisk tactics by Chicago police is difficult because officers inconsistently record their interactions with people on the street, according to WBEZ.
Standard & Poor's changed its outlook of Chicago's bond rating from "stable" to "negative," meaning the credit agency may decrease the city's A-plus rating unless it addresses its budgetary problems.
Eddie Carranza, embattled owner of the Congress and Portage theaters, has left tenants without heat or hot water after not paying gas bill the Portage theater complex. His response? "I don't know why it is such a big deal. The bigger deal is how I'm improving that shitty neighborhood."
United Airlines' online ticketing system was letting customers book free flights yesterday afternoon, due to an error on the part of some employee who is no doubt now fired. United says it hasn't decided yet whether to honor the free flights.
Al-Jazeera America's Christof Putzel said that although he reported from war zones he's never experienced the same "level of intensity on the streets" as he did covering gun violence in Chicago.
The students who were locked out of the old Trotter's restaurant by the eponymous retired chef last week have a new location and date for their photography show. The exhibition will open Saturday at the Artists Frame Service in Lincoln Park.
Regular readers of the Trib and Sun-Times are probably used to racist and abusive comments, but the proposed Englewood Whole Foods articles are generating an almost unbelievablelevel of bile with seemingly no editorial response. UPDATE: Both papers have shut down comments on the articles.
Former Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea, saying his visit is not a diplomatic mission, but rather a chance to hang out with ruler Kim Jong Un and "start a basketball league over there or something like that."
As the school year kicks off, Lake Forest College celebrates alumnus Diana Nyad, whose historic swim from Cuba to Florida is an inspiration to current student athletes.
The young man accused of trying to blow up Cal's Liquors last year has been further charged with attempting to order a hit on an FBI agent scheduled to testify against him. In both cases, the people he contacted about the dirty work were undercover FBI agents.
A group of photography students from After School Matters who were setting up an exhibit of their work in the former Charlie Trotter's space last night were abruptly kicked out by Trotter himself; the chef, who is an ASM board member, ordered his guests to clean his toilets, used gay slurs and obscenities, told them to get "Charlie Trotter tattoos," and then refused to let the kids back in to get their work and other items. A WGN reporter had a bizarre confrontation with Trotter on camera, who mumbled "Should I do an Alec Baldwin?" as he walked off.
The FBI raided the offices of Mobile Doctors, a service for arranging house calls, and arrested its CEO and one of its doctors on charges of health care fraud.
While there is no formal "stop and frisk" police policy in Chicago, the Reader's Mick Dumke shares different perspectives on how similar pat-downs play out in Chicago.
A new National Geographic documentary looks at Chicago's drug trade, calling the city both "one of the biggest open-air crack and heroin markets in America" and "murder capital of the U.S.A."
WGN reporter Mark Suppelsa spent 12 hours in Englewood to provide a glimpse of what life is like in "one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city."
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today banning cell phone use in Illinois without a hands-free device. The bill goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2014 and violators can face fines starting at $75.
The first discovery of a new carnivorous mammal in 35 years was spurred by a visit to the Field Museum's archives by a Smithsonian curator. The olinguito had been confused with the olingo, an unrelated but somewhat similar animal from South America, for nearly 100 years.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to misusing $750,000 in campaign funds. Sandi Jackson received a one-year sentence, which she'll serve after Jesse gets out.
The City has started using 120 animals, including goats, sheep, llamas and burros to maintain the landscape at O'Hare. They will not get on the runway.
A full-frontal gay strip night has launched on Monday nights in a Harvey strip club, where it's legal for full nudity and liquor to be in the same room. But time will tell if the boys from Northalsted are willing to go that far south on Halsted, even with a shuttle.
I think we're all lucky to know someone who inspires us. But just in case you are looking for more inspiration, Leah Pickett shares brief stories of 11 Chicago women who are doing amazing things to make our city better. But each woman has more than one inspiring story, far more.
DNAinfo mapped where tickets for marijuana possession have been written in the seven months since having less than 15g of pot became a ticketable offense. Interestingly, Portage Park had twice as many tickets as the second worst community area.
Over a dozen demonstrators continued a hunger strike protest outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital today, demanding access to organ transplant procedures for undocumented immigrants.
Metra Board Chairman Brad O'Halloran is stepping down amidst a continuing scandal surrounding the departure of CEO Alex Clifford, who wrote in a memo that O'Halloran and another board member were plotting to force him out because he refused to make political hires and did not get rid of employees that O'Halloran told him to fire.
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill legalizing medicinal marijuana in Illinois, placing strict restrictions on its use and making it available to patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and other ailments.
The FBI arrested more than 150 people, including one in Chicago, in a massive child sex trafficking sting over the weekend, freeing 105 sexually exploited children.
Proving old dogs can learn new tricks, Drew and Susan Goss of West Town Tavern (previously) have announced they're reopening as Chicago Taco. Viva los Gosses! [via]
At a City Hall news conference, Blaine Elementary Principal Troy LaRaviere excoriated CPS budget cuts for "turning a full school day into an empty school day."
Attorneys for former governor Rod Blagojevich have filed an appeal of his 2011 conviction on corruption charges -- just barely under the midnight deadline last night.
Over 200 people rallied Sunday at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago to protest the acquittal of 28-year-old Florida man George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
A server at Pequod's Pizza received a $500 tip on a $45 bill from the family of a man who died last year, whose last wish was "Leave an awesome tip (and I don't mean 25 percent. I mean $500 on a fucking pizza) for a waiter or waitress."
Police shot an off-duty fireman outside a Mount Greenwood pharmacy, after mistaking his wallet for a gun. His wife called the cops because she was concerned her husband was suicidal.
CTA's Morgan station opened just over a year ago. Google already announced its move to the area, and rumors of a Rick Bayless restaurant are now swirling.
Mayor Emanuel's office announced a deal with Chicago's energy suppliers that will double the city's wind energy. Integrys Energy Services was chosen to supply 5 percent of consumer electricity, via ComEd, to save money and ease pollution.
The Sun-Times didn't make the best decision about how to title Sunday's front-page coverage of the Seoul-based Asiana flight that crashed during landing in San Francisco.
Real estate broker Gary Daileychased down a mugger who stole a woman's cellphone as people headed to the lake shore at Division for 4th of July fireworks.
After laying off its professional photographers in May, the Sun-Times will also be cutting its book review section and folding its entertainment coverage into their lifestyle section later this month.
Don't forget, the Blackhawks parade and rally are this morning beginning at 10:30, and roads are blocked off all along the route, so some buses are re-routed and there are extra security measures. Oh, and there's a Jimmy Buffet concert at Northerly Island tonight, so traffic on Lake Shore Drive will be gummed up later, too. You might as well not go to work.
A business owner who has a lucrative VA disability rating based on a twisted ankle he received in a military school football game nearly 30 years ago got shamed in a hard way in Congress yesterday by double amputee, veteran and Illinois Rep. Tammy Duckworth.
Lakeview-based Cubby Tees created a "Chicago Stronger" shirt to show support of the Blackhawks during the Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins. The shirt has been pulled after the company received what they're calling a "Twitter-lynching." The shirt is a play on the "Boston Strong" slogan created after the Boston Marathon bombings.
Want to know if John Wayne Gacy buried victims in the yard and walls of the apartment building his mother lived in? (Previously) Buy it for $599k and go to town.
After reviewing unremarkable surveillance camera footage and having no luck finding witnesses, police are now skeptical that a group of kids robbed a woman of $200k in money and jewelry earlier this week on Michigan Avenue.
...Where 200 people pay $7 each to see a DJ in an 800-square-foot apartment and spill out onto a dangerous roof, 'cause well, those parties tend to get shut down by the police.
CNN.com's LZ Granderson argues that treating gangs like terrorists will solve Chicago's violence problem. The comments immediately devolve into a gun debate.
A man bit off half the ear of his friend, who happens to be his girlfriend's roommate, during an argument. And from the looks of his mugshot, he enjoyed it.
The Tribune has an eye-witness report from a Chicago runner in the Boston Marathon, who had finished and was watching runners near the finish line. Expect more of a police presence around Metra stations and other key locations around Chicago tonight. Our thoughts go to Boston and those affected by the bombings.
An 80-year-old resident of a Gold Coast condo tower was found dead Monday, apparently after falling down the trash chute. Last year, a 16-year-old with Down syndrome and autism fell to his death in the same chute.
An Illinois Tollway garage supervisor who'd already been fired twice was fired again this week after being photographed sleeping on the job, among other things.
An ex-Chicago cop stands accused of planning to extort and murder a local businessman and other offenses -- in addition to to the charges that he and an accomplice were planning to kidnap and dismember a different victim. And that's just the most recent stuff on his rap sheet.
Former federal prosecutor Zachary Fardon is in the lead to become the new US Attorney in Chicago, replacing Patrick Fitzgerald, after his chief rival, Lori Lightfoot, withdrew from the running.
A man was beaten to death on a Green Line station on Saturday, while five gang members assaulted passengers on a Red Line train Friday night. One man was arrested in the latter incident; police are still investigating the former.
A gunman shot a father and his 6-month-old daughter while he was changing her diaper in Woodlawn yesterday. The baby was hit five times, and is in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; the father is also in critical condition. UPDATE: Jonylah Watkins, the infant, has died.
The Atlantic Cities features Chicago-based CityScan, whose ability to combine open data and LIDAR to detect violations of city codes could be a boon for the budget.
In other U of C protest news, the Chicago Maroon uncovered that the school planted an undercover detective in a recent demonstration. The officer, who was dressed in plain clothes, carried a protest sign and even symbolically placed a sticker over her mouth, kept contact with the deputy chief throughout the demonstration while covertly probing demonstrators about their plans. UPDATE: The school's provost and president have announced an "external independent reviewer" to investigate the events.
The Washington Post compiled a table showing how the sequester will affect each state. Make sure to select the "Illinois" profile in the drop down menu.
Drew Peterson's request for a new trial was denied, so sentencing is now underway. Hopefully that will mean the end of this story soon. Keep an eye on the #DrewPeterson hashtag for live tweets from the courtroom, and/or peruse Craig Newman's Storify of coverage. UPDATE: 38 years.
The fire department's fleet of ambulances is in poor shape, the BGA reports. At least one has lost a wheel while carrying a patient. The City is in the process of buying 25 new vehicles, but in the meantime the entire fleet is at or near 100,000 miles.
The St. Louis-based Preservation Research Office blog uses Chicago's battles over Prentice and Michael Reese to evaluate each city's hospital preservation experiences. The verdict: "Alas, Chicago has done the wrong thing while St. Louis years ago made a wise choice."
Several more teenagers were shot over the weekend. Eighteen-year-old Janay McFarlane a new mom whose sister was in the audience for Obama's speech on gun violence, was killed in North Chicago on Friday; Frances Colon was also killed on Friday, the third Clemente High School student to die this year.
Three teens were shot and one was killed in two separate incidents on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, a student brought an unloaded handgun to Foreman High School on Monday.
By now, it's clear that but Indiana's weak gun laws allow would-be criminals easy ways to circumvent Chicago's tough laws. The Trib documents how it's done.
Federal charges were filed today against former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson. Jesse was charged with conspiracy, making false statements, mail and wire fraud in connection with diverting $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use, while Sandi was charged with filing a false tax return. Don't miss the expenses list after the jump, which includes a lot of Michael Jackson memorabilia and even a mink cape.
Two men were charged Monday with the murder of Hadiya Pendleton. Police say they had fired into the group Pendleton was walking with after mistaking one of her friends for a rival gang member. One of the suspects had been arrested three times for various crimes while already on probation for weapons charges. Meanwhile, Pendleton's parents have been invited to the State of the Union Address.
Poynter reports that EveryBlock, which abruptly closed late last week, has attracted interest from potential new owners. EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty is not impressed with how owner NBC News handled the closing, stating that the site is now "damaged goods."
Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital is currently before the city's Commission on Chicago Landmarks. If you're interested in real time updates, you can follow the Save Prentice coalition on twitter and facebook. UPDATE: Prentice no longer has preliminary landmark status, allowing another step towards demolition. Next: another court date.
Governor Quinn's State of the State speech went as planned today, in which he called for actually dealing with the state's fiscal woes, increasing the minimum wage, legalizing same-sex marriage and controlling guns. Read more from the Trib, Sun-Times, WBEZ and Chicago Business, or read it yourself.
Controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who's facing a recall campaign, has another headache on his hands: identity theft. Someone used his credit card number to buy nearly $300 in groceries here in Chicago.
An $11,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person shot Hadiya Pendleton, whose death Tuesday, a week after she performed at the Presidential Inauguration, brought focus in DC and beyond on Chicago's soaring murder rate.
The Great Clips at Webster and Sheffield in Lincoln Park was robbed at gunpoint around 9:40 this morning. Police are investigating whether the robbery is connected to others that have occurred in the past month at hair salons in the area.
Shirley Chambers has lost her youngest son to gun violence this weekend when someone shot up the van Ronnie Chambers was riding in. His siblings were killed in 1995 and 2000.
Commission on Chicago Landmarks has taken the unusual step of adding the old Prentice Women's Hospital to its February 7 agenda [pdf]. As scheduled, it will receive a revised report regarding economic issues and then consider the decision to reject its preliminary landmark recommendation. The Trib has some background.
GB Managing Editor David Schalliol went down to the site of last night's warehouse fire to check out the aftermath. What he found was an ice-coated beauty amid the wreckage.
CBS2 Chicago reports that Ald. Willie Cochran has suggested using GPS devices on all guns. "Just like if your car gets stolen, OnStar can tell you where your car is. If your gun gets stolen, and you report it, we should be able to find that gun."
Following last night's highly anticipated Simeon-Morgan Park basketball game at Chicago State, a 17-year-old was shot and killed outside the gymnasium. It's unclear if the shooting had anything to do with a post-game fracas that was broken up by Chicago Public Schools security.
The Pitchfork video interview in which Chief Keef went to a gun range finally came back around to haunt him, as a judge decided it violated the terms of his probation for aiming a gun at police. Keith Cozart will be sentenced back to prison on Thursday.
Customs officials at O'Hare held up 18 human heads destined for an area medical research facility. Apparently the heads are all fine and properly documented, but the facility is under investigation on unrelated matters. UPDATE: Apparently the heads weren't headed to a research facility at all -- they were going to a crematorium.
The City will pay $22.5 million to Christina Eilman, who was picked up by the police during a bi-polar breakdown at Midway, held overnight and then dropped off in a high-crime neighborhood, where she was kidnapped, raped and fell from the seventh story of a public housing high-rise. The settlement is the largest to a single plaintiff in Chicago history.
The neon sign at Madame ZuZu's, Billy Corgan's tea house in Highland Park, was in the news recently when the Tribune reported the sign is about 5 times the size allowed by local zoning ordinance. Billy wrote a letter to the city asking for permission to keep the sign, and the city council approved the sign in last night's meeting.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart received approval to search for bodies in the Northwest Side apartment complex in which John Wayne Gacy's mother lived, at which the serial killer worked as a maintenance man for a number of years. Dart announced intentions to dig on the property last March.
NPR's "Morning Edition" reported yesterday on Chicago's rising murder rate. They follow that up today with a piece prompted by listener questions about Chicago's "gun ban."
Some kind Lincoln Park folks foiled a robbery Saturday night, tackling and restraining a purse-snatching, screwdriver-wielding parolee until police arrived.
Over at WBEZ, Louisa Chu reminds us that German Kinder Uberraschung chocolate eggs are still illegal and heavily fined in the US, no matter what those pushers at Christkindlmarket might tell you. Achtung!
Two suspected bank robbers escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center this morning. Jose Banks and Kenneth Conley apparently knocked cinder blocks out of their cell wall and used a makeshift rope to climb out.
Yes, therapy dogs. A group of Chicagoland-raised golden retrievers made the trip to Newtown, Connecticut this weekend to comfort those affected by the shooting. The group started in 2008, following the NIU shooting, when a group of dog caretakers hoped to console the student body.
The Cook County Sheriff's office figured out a way to submit samples from John Wayne Gacy and other murderers to the FBI's DNA database -- by listing the executed men as homicides. The samples will be checked against the database to see if potential new victims turn up.
Eighth District State Rep. La Shawn Ford was indicted Thursday on federal bank fraud charges in connection with a line of credit he took out with failed ShoreBank. Rep. Ford denied the charges, saying, "There is no bank fraud in my blood."
If you're smuggling $7 million of pot inside frozen strawberries, and you tell police that your cargo is frozen fruit, they'll probably -- and understandably -- get suspicious if 1) your truck isn't refrigerated and 2) your destination is a residential driveway.
Alex "Cowboy" Campbell was sentenced to life in prison for running a sex-trafficking operation. Campbell forced his women, who were illegal immigrants from eastern Europe, to get tattoos of his initials or even worse.
The "Englewood Four," who spent 12-17 years in jail after being wrongfully convicted of the 1994 rape and murder of Nina Glover, have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that Cook County prosecutors and police framed them for the crime. Harold Richardson, Michael Saunders, Terrill Swift and Vincent Thames were exonerated earlier this year.
The parking meter deal can't be nullified because the city is benefiting from it, a judge ruled in a lawsuit. Despite Mayor Emanuel's bluster about the deal, City attorneys sided with Chicago Parking Meters LLC in the case.
In about half an hour, a Circuit Court will hear a lawsuit by preservationists challenging the process by which Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital was denied landmark status. In short, they argue that the Commission on Chicago Landmarks violated and overstepped its legal authority. Read the complaint after the jump. UPDATE: The judge temporality halted any demolition plans until both sides of the conflict can be heard.
The Sun-Times reports that CeaseFire, now known as Cure Violence, has had "no significant success stories" in the three months since being given $1 million by the City to help curb gang violence.
Gapers Block has covered CeaseFire extensively over the years, both positively and moreskeptically. Most recently, Jason Prechtel questioned the decision by Vice magazine to run a documentary about CeaseFire as part of a marketing campaign for a revenge-themed video game; Vice has since removed the documentary from the marketing campaign site.
Chicago's high level of gang violence is nothing new, but its increasingly popular "trap" rap scene, featuring juvenile rappers that rhyme about guns, "bitches" and drugs, is adding more fuel to the already out of control fire. Many wonder who is responsible for the epidemic, the misguided teens or their parents? Chicago blogger Alexander Fruchter explores this troubling trend in an editorial for Ruby Hornet.
Cook County has approved a $2.95 billion budget that will increase taxes on guns, cigarettes, large out-of-country purchases, slot machines and video gambling terminals. The taxes, which includes a $1-per-pack increase, will go into effect next year.
NBC has decided to continue its new drama "Chicago Fire" for a full season. Much of the TV show has been shot on the city's West Side at the up-and-coming film studio Cinespace.
Andre Curry, the man who used painter's tape to bind his 22-month-old daughter for a joke photo he posted on Facebook, was convicted yesterday of aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery, and faces up to seven years in prison.
The City of Chicago is likely to benefit greatly from Obama's second term in office. According to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the president has promised to invest in the education and infrastructure of his hometown.
In 2009, Jennifer Fitzgerald's ex-boyfriend abandoned his run-down old car in United's employee lot at O'Hare, where he worked. Unfortunately, the car's title was in Fitzgerald's name, so she got stuck with more than $100,000 in tickets the car racked up since then.
Hurricane Sandy's effects are being felt throughout the Great Lakes as high winds kick up waves as tall as 33 feet. A flood warning has been issued for the lake shore from 1am tonight through 4pm Wednesday. Meanwhile, more than 500 flights have already been canceled at Midway and O'Hare. Whet Moser passes along a couple ways to see Sandy's effects on local weather.
CAPS is unfunded in the 2013 City budget, the Reader reports. CAPS meetings will supposedly continue, but police superintendent Garry McCarthy says he wants each district commander to decide how the program is handled in their district.
Some activists will patrol Chicago neighborhoods on Halloween in hopes of protecting trick-or-treaters from egg-throwers. The messy and cruel act has become a recent trend among kids and teens, who like to record and post videos of them pelting the innocent, costumed children with eggs.
MTV has settled with Tonya Cooley, a "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" contestant (and "Real World: Chicago" alum) who sued the network last year for not intervening as two of Cooley's castmates sexually assaulted her on camera. MTV claims that Cooley "failed to avoid the injuries of which she complains."
Last week, the Sun-Times announced that Jenny McCarthy was coming on board as a print columnist and blogger for Splash magazine to give Chicagoans advice in her "Ask Jenny" column. Apparently, a few had something to say about it.
The "rooftop pastor" Corey Brooks is back from his walk across the country to raise money for Project Hood. He only raised $500,000 of his hoped-for $15 million, but says he's not giving up on that goal.
In honor of Chicago Ideas Week, the city turned to Twitter to ask users their opinion about the best way to get guns off of the streets. They received over 300,000 responses, varying from stricter parenting to looser gun control.
The newest entry in our To be Demolished series is 834 W. Armitage Ave., the former Greater Little Rock The Lord's Church. Walgreens is currently planning to build a new store on the site.
A new social science research study conducted by the University of Chicago Crime Lab, in conjunction with Chicago Public Schools and local non-profits, determined that youth mentoring programs have the potential to significantly decrease violent crimes involving young people.
Paul Sereno, paleontologist and professor at U of C, has discovered a new species of dinosaur through fossils that were originally excavated from southern Africa in the 1960s. The Pegomastax africanus ("thick jaw from Africa") is a small, fanged herbivore that resembles a bird.
Though temperatures have dropped recently, homicides have escalated. Violence that occurred in the city this weekend marked the 400th homicide this year.
According to the Sun-Times, there have been two more cougar sightings in the North Shore. And not the Courteney Cox kind, but actual mountain lions. Residents are asked to take photos if they spot one.
Someone broke into the police department's South Shore stables Sunday night and let loose 27 of the 30 horses, and injured two of them with a fire extinguisher.
Adel Daoud, an 18-year-old kid from Hillside, was arrested Friday night after allegedly trying to blow up a Loop bar with a car bomb. The FBI had been tracking him for months. The target was not released, but the owners of Cal's are pretty sure it was them.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy's recent report, How America Gives, breaks down charitable giving by state, metropolitan area and by zip code. Illinois ranks 29, and the Chicago metropolitan area comes in at 227 out 366 areas. Local donors give 4.2% of income, a median amount of $2,296. If you want to know how your ZIP code fares, take a look.
The wild and crazy Drew Peterson case moves briefly out of court today as the jury found him guilty of the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. I say briefly, because you can bet there will be an appeal.
More than 150 people have died this summer due to gun violence. The Complex City-Guide shares just a few facts about each teenager who died this summer in Chicago. This R.I.P Guide shares a few images and basic facts about each life we've lost. Listening to this great piece by Natalie Moore of WBEZ provides an interesting context for reading the names and descriptions of the shootings.
As of yesterday, Illinois' credit rating has been downgraded by S&P in response to the state's failure to fix the pension system. Only California has a lower credit rating, but without the (apparently) ominous "negative outlook."
As if the Drew Peterson trial couldn't be more of a circus, the jury all wore sports jerseys yesterday. It's not the first time they've coordinated their outfits.
Shauna Prewitt was raped while attending U of C; she became pregnant with her attacker's daughter, and later she successfully battled him in court for custody. Now a Chicago-based attorney, she wrote about the legal difficulties of women who become pregnant through rape, and penned an open letter to Rep. Todd Akin's recent comments on "legitimate rape."
That's the title of a book returned to the Chicago Public Library returned this week that's been checked out since 1975. The lendee found it while cleaning his Naperville home, and returned it during the CPL's amnesty period, so he got away with it scott free.
Three guests at the JW Marriott Hotel at Adams and LaSalle have contracted Legionnaires' Disease in the past month. The hotel has notified 8,500 guests who've stayed in the hotel to watch for symptoms.
A guy tried to rob the gate at the Northside Summerfest in North Center by claiming he was there to relieve an employee, then stuffing his pocket full of cash.
Several Muslim gravestones in an Evergreen Park cemetery were desecrated with anti-Muslim graffiti this week, the latest in an up-swelling of hate crimes in recent weeks.
There is now a plaque marking the spot where Barack and Michelle Obama had their first date and first kiss. You can visit the spot at 53rd Street and Dorchester.
Adrian Holovaty, who founded the wonderful EveryBlock, is leaving the company after five years. Holovaty's only plan is to stay in the city and work on some new projects.
But United's customer service was less so when an unaccompanied minor from San Francisco was left stranded at O'Hare on her way to a Michigan summer camp in June.
Two Navy vessels will be joined by the Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy docking at Navy Pier as part of Navy Week. They're on the first scheduled Naval cruise of Lake Michigan since 1999.
An unmarked police car went around the gates at the Kedzie Brown Line crossing after a Loop-bound train passed -- and was hit by a northbound train. The car's driver and the conductor were taken to the hospital, and are reported in stable condition. The CTA is running a shuttle to take passengers between the Kimball and Western stations.
The new marijuana ticketing law netted 11 people in its first weekend. The process is long: the alleged weed has to be taken to a police station to be verified, and there's plenty of paperwork; ultimately offenders receive tickets of $250 to $500.
Donald Liu, a pediatric surgeon at Comer Children's Hospital, drowned this past weekend in Michigan while successfully saving two small children who were struggling to stay afloat in Lake Michigan. Many grateful parents have flooded the comments section with touching messages--take a look.
A tactical officer with the Chicago Police Department has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy -- a fancy way of saying that he made a lot of money by stealing drugs and cash from one gang and giving them to another.
William Balfour was sentenced today to three consecutive life sentences plus 120 years for the murder of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew. Judge Charles Burns told him his "soul is as barren as dark space."
The City agreed to settle two lawsuits related to Jon Burge torture cases -- which means former Mayor Daley won't have to testify. Meanwhile, jury selection resumed in the Drew Peterson trial.
Ashley Pruneau, a cook at Mana Food Bar, was attacked in her home on July 1 by a man who broke in and beat her with a hammer that she'd reached for in self-defense. She's undergone one surgery, will need at least one more, and is recovering with family in Ohio. Coworkers have set up a fund to help defray medical costs.
The police aren't the only ones paying out millions a year in disability, the Sun-Times reports. The Chicago Fire Department pay more than $27 million to 390 firemen and paramedics, although the rules are different.
A 16-year-old has been arrested for murder after posting a video on Facebook of himself beating 62-year-old Delfino Mora to death in an alley off Devon Avenue over the weekend. Two other teens have also been charged in the case.
Twelve CPS administrators were removed from their jobs after the city's Inspector General discovered they falsified paperwork in order for their own children to qualify for free or reduced cost lunches at their schools. It gets worse: the city found 55 more CPS employees in the last four years who have also lied on their paperwork for the lunch program.
A 16-year-old died after falling inside the vacant Ravenswood Hospital, which he was exploring with to friends Monday. GB staffer Monica Reida compiled a list of Chicago hospitals that have closed in the past 12 years.
The gun buy-back program the City ran last month netted 5,500 guns -- but some of them came from pro-gun group Guns Save Life, who turned in "junk" guns and received $6,240 in gift cards, which they used to pay for an NRA shooting camp for kids.
That storm that gave us all those crazy photos on Friday turned into a derecho or "land hurricane" that kept rolling all the way to the Atlantic, downing trees and knocking out power in Columbus, DC and elsewhere.
Speaking of the Trib's business practices, its keyword based Google ads generated this recent gem in an article about potentially questionable chemical additives in foreign Coca-Cola formulations.
As in, he hasn't quite endorsed marijuana decriminalization, but has put his support behind an ordinance that calls for ticketing for possession of 15g or less, rather than a mandatory trip to the police station.
UC professor Luigi Zingales penned an op-ed in today's NYT that proposes that to lessen the student loan crisis, investors finance college expenses in exchange for a portion of the students' post-grad earnings.
Charlie Trotter's been sued for failing to show up for a private dinner. The former Microsoft executive who won the dinner at a charity auction 11 years ago also won the judgement against Trotter -- but lost sight of the bigger picture, which was that the dinner was for, you know, charity.
...Or whatever it is you have. On June 23, the City is holding gun turn-ins at 23 locations around town. Anyone bringing in a gun will receive a $100 gift card, no questions asked.
Word to the wise: if you get pulled over for not having your toddler in a car seat, probably not the best idea to ask your toddler to hold your gun for you.
Although the city's farmers markets are kicking into full gear, don't expect to see your neighbor's awesome rhubarb crisp or your co-worker's garlic scape pesto for sale. At least, not if you live in Cook County.
One of the Shedd Aquarium's Pacific white-sided dolphins, Piquet, gave birth yesterday to a healthy, but not yet named calf. Fearing the birth over the NATO weekend closure, several staffers had moved into the aquarium for the summit's duration, but Piquet held out until Memorial Day
In which Chicago panhandlers, frequently intimidated and threatened by police, seek First Amendment justice for being shooed out of their Michigan Avenue spots.
US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced today that he will step down at the end of June. He said he'll take the summer off to consider future career plans ...which sounds to the folks here in the office like he's headed to the private sector. The Trib runs down highlights from his 10 and a half years.
This collection of live streaming video sources is a good place to start if you want to check out the NATO protests and events- without actually going outside. SUNDAY UPDATE: Two standouts for today's demonstration include the Occupie Chicago stream from inside the crowd and the WGN camera from above.
Students in various CPS high schools have been preparing for the influx of European heads of state by learning national anthems, history and, for a lucky few, even taking a trip to the EU. Including young people in the summit activities brought out messages of understanding, tolerance and optimism. Important concepts for young students that hopefully won't be lost on the power-holders occupying McCormick Place next week.
When the Onion published a faux story last week about an archaeologist named Brian Bauer who narrowly avoids deadly fate a Peruvian temple, no one apparently realized that there is a real-life Incan researcher and archaeologist named Brian Bauer; he's a faculty member at UIC.
William Balfour was found guilty of killing Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew on Friday; Natalie Moore writes in Ebony that Englewood is not to blame.
Sam Kass, the Chicagoan who's a double-threat at the White House -- assistant chef and senior policy advisor on healthy food initiatives -- dishes about food deserts.
Marilyn has had her final days in Chicago and is being shipped to Palm Springs where she will stand until June 2013. Sorry Marilyn, maybe the Windy City was just too windy for that dress. Interesting dismantle to say the least.
Yesterday the right-wing Heartland Institute launched a new anti-climate science campaign with a billboard on the Eisenhower. It included a photograph of the "Unabomber" with the words "I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?" The organization planned to add Charles Manson and Fidel Castro with a similar message but promptly cancelled the advertisement after acknowledging that "our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland's friends and supporters." Still they "do not apologize for running the ad."
The Secret Service announced the parking, walking and driving restrictions that will be rolled out starting May 13 in anticipation of the May 20-21 conference at McCormick Place.
Adam "MCA" Yauch has passed away after a battle with cancer. Yauch was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland. He sat out Beastie Boys induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April while undergoing treatment. He is survived by his wife and daughter. Adam Yauch was 47.
Here are a few videos from the Beasties' visits to Chicago, featuring both MCA's lyrical prowess and musical skills:
If Michael Jordan's mansion is out of your price range, but you still want some Chicago-celebrity real estate, Al Capone's weekend retreat is on the auction block.
The Mayor's going digital tonight for the third time in a Facebook town hall meeting. Topics up for discussion include food trucks and education reform amongst other questions submitted earlier on askchicago.org. The hour-long event starts at 6 pm at Facebook.com/chicagomayorsoffice.
If you're morbidly curious, you can now listen to Jennifer Hudson's panicked 911 call from the night she found her mother and brother murdered in her home.
Fortunately not, but a Delta flight from Detroit was quarantined at Midway Thursday evening after concerns that a passenger with a rash might have contracted monkeypox while visiting Uganda. The CDC checked the woman out and gave the all-clear after two hours, so you're totally safe.
Hero: Lincoln Square resident Ron Psenka, who in bare feet chased a man who had sexually assaulted a woman in the alley behind his home. Horror: a 2-year-old girl died after being beaten, scratched and bitten, allegedly by the man who was babysitting her while her mother was at work.
Sorry, Illinoisians holding out hope that the Simpsons' Springfield was our own. Matt Groening revealed to Smithsonian that the cartoon town is named after (if not based on) the Springfield in Oregon.
As jury selection nears completion, the judge presiding over the trial of William Balfour, accused of murdering Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew, is requiring journalists to list both work and personal social media accounts on their credentials application in order to maintain media decorum. At least one reporter seems to think this is an outrage.
The famed CBS journalist passed away last night at the age of 93. Wallace's career had many Chicago connections, having worked in local media (WMAQ, Chicago Sun) in his beginnings. Wallace also took a hit in the jaw on camera during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. His 1957 interview with Frank Lloyd Wright was also particularly compelling.
If you were like me last night, the odds that you would win the $640m lottery were not in your favor. Three winning tickets were sold last night, one of them in downstate Red Bud. The other winning tickets were sold in Kansas and Maryland.
In further poor pet ownership news, a man on the South Side was arrested for hanging his dog by its neck from a tree using a bicycle tire, claiming it was treatment to keep the dog from getting dementia. [via]
A drunk man first dared the driver of a car to run him over Saturday night, then got in his SUV and repeatedly rammed the car before fleeing, police say.
Rogers Park pet owners should be on the lookout for pink squirrel poison pellets in places where dogs and cats can reach it. The pellets have more food content than rat poison, so other animals are more likely to think it's a treat.
A new court filing alleges that police falsified reports in a death investigation involving a nephew of former Mayor Daley, including possibly an admission of guilt. The mother of the victim, who died after a fight outside a bar in 2004, is asking for a special prosecutor to reexamine the case.
Tomorrow at 10am, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will appear with Gov. Pat Quinn at King College Prep, 4445 S. Drexel Blvd., to promote the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education initiative. Doors open at 9am.
If you want a seat in the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park during Taste of Chicago this year, you may have to shell out $25 due to a new ordinance being introduced by Mayor Emanuel. The lawn is still free though!
In These Times' Joel Handley makes the case that our understanding of gangs is outdated, and the city could do a better job of dealing with street violence if it had a better model of its causes.
Michael Altenberg, chef and owner of Bistro Campagne, passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. Altenberg is credited with pioneering the farm-to-table movement in Chicago; he was 48 years old. A memorial is scheduled for Wednesday; details have not yet been announced.
On Tuesday's G-8 press briefings, if you didn't hear Obama's mis-step on the pronunciation of Lollapalooza in regards to his confidence in Chicago being able to handle the security concerns of the NATO summit, check it out at the 1:20 mark. Notice the chuckle from the press. Maybe someone should give him a ticket to the next one.
After decades of protesting, Little Village and Pilsen residents celebrate a recent deal to shut down two coal-fired power plants, owned by Midwest Generation. Pollution from the plants has been blamed for illness, asthma attacks and even death in the community over the years.
A celebration of Chicago's 175th birthday with Rahm Emanuel at the Chicago History Museum was interrupted by a group protesting the closure and consolidation of city mental health clinics.
Michael Jordan has listed his Highland Park mansion for $29 million, making it the highest-priced home in the Chicago market. I can only assume this includes a three-bedroom guest house filled with Rayovac batteries.
Starting March 4, the 19th Police District, which includes Lakeview and Lincoln Park, will absorb the 23rd district and move its headquarters to 850 W. Addison. The redrawn district's new commander has not been announced yet.
Tomorrow at 10am, a public street dedication ceremony will be held to pay tribute to Bernie Mac; the late comedian and actor will be honored in the Englewood community with "Bernie Mac St.," at the corner of 69th and Sangamon Streets, the actual block where he was raised.
Reverend Corey Brooks, aka "The Rooftop Pastor," who has been camped out atop an old South Side motel for over 90 days in an effort to raise funds to build a community center for inner-city youth, can finally come down: This morning, filmmaker/director Tyler Perry, whose new movie Good Deeds opens today, announced live on the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show that he would pay the $98,000 balance needed to fund the project.
Rudy Carrillo, father of two and piercer at Chicago Tattoo & Piercing Co, was struck by a car on Sunday while riding his bike. He's been badly hurt and doesn't have health insurance, and CTC has launched fundraising efforts to help defray the cost of his medical bills. For information on how you can help, see this Facebook post, this Instagram post, this blog post, or check the CTC website tomorrow for more details.
The City is currently taking bids to outfit the Chicago Police Department's 30-man mounted unit with riot gear for the G8 summit. And not just the officers, but the horses too -- leather nose guards, wrap-around eye visors, high-impact plastic leg shields and a small sign asking you not to pull on their tail (not true).
The newest installment of our documentary series The Grid examines how The Plant -- Chicago's vertical farm and food business incubator -- has been represented in the media.
James Marcello and Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, reputed Chicago Mobsters convicted in the 2007's Family Secrets Trial, get another chance today to oppose their 2007 conviction.
The City has decided to pull the winning city sticker design amid concerns that its imagery includes gang symbols. No word yet which of the other designs will be substituted, nor whether the 15-year-old student who designed the winning sticker will be forced to give back the $1000 bond he received.
The RedEye's Homicide Trackeradded a murder today for the first time since Jan. 24. It's the first time since reporter Tracy Swartz started the tracker that there's been a whole week without a homicide.
Though a new fire-safety ordinance was passed by the city in 2003, quite a few residential high-rises still fail to meet standards. City council recently extended the compliance deadline to 2015, but you can look up the status of your building here.
Well, sort of -- last week in the southwest suburbs, a few scrap metal thieves managed to dismantle an entire building and cart off the steel. The article has no mention of security lasers or a slightly off-kilter demolitions expert, but we can hope.
Police are investigating an assault and robbery caught on tape of a teenage boy by seven other teens outside Ward Elementary in Bridgeport. The video was originally posted by one of the assailants, and is now mirrored elsewhere. [via]
Warning: This video is obviously violent and also includes strong language. Not safe for work. A backup copy can be found here.
UPDATE:
Via the Reddit thread linked in the [via] above, here's video of the victim escaping:
One of the suspects has allegedly been arrested. Meanwhile, a friend of the assailants has posted videos explaining that the beating occurred as retribution for a prior fight in which 20 guys beat up two of the assailants.
Breakups are never easy, but Walgreens seems particularly upset about cutting ties with Express Scripts, formerly one of the drugstore chain's biggest customers. Walgreens is taking to Twitter with its grievances, saying, "It's time to take a stand against @ExpressScripts. Tell them people want a choice by tweeting hashtag #ILoveWalgreens" in a (sponsored) tweet.
Two suspects hanged themselves in the same week at the Area Two police station, leading their families and community leaders to call for an investigation.
Chicago was named the fourth most economically powerful city in the world by The Atlantic. Meanwhile, the idea that the rest of Illinois should separate from Chicago is still getting play. The Huffington Post Chicago sums up the dramatics nicely.
All last week Evanston Township High School repeatedly played Justin Bieber's song "Baby" over the building's loudspeakers during passing periods until students coughed up enough donations to fund the construction of a student art space and hangout.
A man who beat up a woman who wouldn't give him a cigarette in 2008 was arrested in Uptown after threatening to kill a man who wouldn't give him change.
Though we were all very fond of noticing that various vending, parking or CTA machines accepted or gave presidential dollar coins as change, Biden has declared, "Nobody wants them." Though this $50 million cut from the federal budget will end the series on James Garfield, Biden contends, "As it will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there."
CPD and ATF officers arrested three suspects after a standoffin Uptown that suspended CTA Red and Purple Line service north of Belmont for more than six hours Monday night.
Rev. Corey Brooks has been living in a tent on top of an abandoned motel across from his church for the past 12 days. Last night, Occupy Chicago protestors joined him.
Three tow-truck drivers have been arrested and more are being sought by police after an investigation found multiple cases of drivers stealing cars, often selling them for scrap.
An 80-year-old man donated a suit to Goodwill -- and accidentally gave away his life savings with it. Workers are currently sifting through more than half a million donations to find it for him.
Sheriff Tom Dart announced today that one of the eight unknown victims of John Wayne Gacy has been identified through DNA (previously) as William George Bundy, who disappeared in 1976.
Here's an exclusive 1992 interview with Gacy by Channel 2's Walter Jacobson, 13 years after he was convicted of murdering 33 young men.
Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District officials assured the citizenry that it is safe from cyber attacks, after Russian hackers very slowly took down a water system downstate via a stolen password.
A misunderstanding on where exactly proceeds where going has left a blemish on this year's women in cycling pin-up calendar by local group (though not for long) Though You Knew.
One of the best TribLocal headlines I've read, "It's hard out there for a mime," is actually about a teen mistaken for one when what he intended was to dress up as a dancer from America’s Best Dance Crew. "...not used to seeing street performers in a residential neighborhood, some neighbors were confused and called police."
Chicago Police Officer Gildaro Sierra is under investigation after the third shooting of a suspect since January, with two resulting in fatalities. The latest was caught on tape -- though according to Second City Cop, it's not muzzle flashes you see in the video.
Unless you want a ticket. Police are ticketing some cars with expired city stickers still on their windshields despite having valid current stickers, too, enforcing a little-known technicality in the ordinance.
A Brighton Park woman hit and pelted her husband with cupcakes in a domestic dispute over the weekend. Her husband had been arrested three times for domestic battery since 2003, but the charges were dropped; so far he is pressing charges.
The Cook County Sheriff netted more than 100 people with outstanding warrants by inviting them to collect prize winnings at a consumer electronics survey session.
Alisha Brennon, spouse of Christina Santiago, who died the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair, has filed a wrongful death suit. The lawsuit will likely help set precedent for how same-sex marriages or civil unions are recognized in states that don't offer them.
Terrible puns aside, O'Hare is now home to the world's first airport aeroponic garden. The O'Hare Urban Garden -- 26 growing towers in Terminal 3, which boast more than 50 varieties of herbs and vegetables -- will provide produce for several restaurants at the airport.
A dude who decided to relieve himself in an Uptown alley on Saturday didn't realize that a security camera was watching his every move(ment). (Maybe kinda NSFW)
Pasieka, a Polish bakery that's been serving the Avondale neighborhood since the Great Depression, burned down on Tuesday morning. The extra-alarm fire, which took 150 firefighters more than three hours to extinguish, is under investigation. GB flickr pool contributor Gabriel X. Michael has somephotographs from the scene.
A South Side man recently got a red light ticket in suburban Willowbrook for a car that was supposedly in an impound lot for months. When he checked at the lot, he was informed that the car had been destroyed, despite the fact that he was paying off fines on a payment plan.
New trouble for hometown giant Groupon, this time self-inflicted. According to a report in The New York Times, Groupon chief executive Andrew Mason may have broken SEC rules preventing a company from attempting to "condition the market by hyping its stock" by issuing an internal memo recently. In it, he defends against media reports about the company's numbers, a balance sheet that will no doubt be adversely affected if Groupon's IPO is put on hold.
Nearly 50 years ago, Chicagoan and Peace Corps Volunteer Larry Radley was among 30 people who died in a plane wreck in the Colombian jungle. His brother vowed to visit the site, but didn't realize how difficult that would be.
After 29 arrests in late July, "Operation Uptown Girl" has sent 11 to prison on narcotics charges. This follows "Operation Sugar Magnolia" in January as part of an effort to combat a rise in gang violence and drug sales in the area.
Nope, not in the concessions department (sadly). But 23 bee hives have been installed along the east side of the airport, managed by Sweet Beginnings, to make use of unused open space. Sweet! (Pun!) [via]
No, he wasn't digging up corpses, but a suburban man was caught stealing more than 400 graveside vases from area cemeteries and trying to sell them to a scrap dealer on the South Side.
Corrie Besse definitely deserves a high-five after chasing down the thief who stole her iPhone on the train -- and has since pleaded guilty to pushing a 68-year-old woman down the stairs to her death in another CTA iPhone robbery back in April.
The City is considering reducing trash pickup from once a week to every 10 days as a cost-cutting measure. Methinks the reduction in sanitation staff would be offset by the increase in pest control staff.
Non-violent Cook County jail inmates have been chosen to work after-hours at Chicago's Animal Care and Control cleaning up kennels, a program that helps save the City money and gives the inmates useful services to perform.
Under a new ordinance passed yesterday by the city council, children under the age of 12 now have an earlier curfew that requires them to be home by 8:30 pm on weekdays, 9 pm on Friday and Saturday nights.
Eleven post offices may close in the latest round of proposed cutbacks from the USPS. All of them are on the South and West sides except for one in the West Loop.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez was arrested yesterday afternoon outside the White House. He was seen sitting on a curb with others to protest the more than one million people who have been deported since President Obama took office. This wasn't the first time he's been arrested related to immigration reform.
An alleged kidnapper threw the infant he was carrying at the cops chasing him down. One of the officers managed to catch the baby before it hit the ground.
The City turned its curbside recycling program into a three-way competition, with two private firms going up against Streets & San trucks. The plan is to expand recycling to more neighborhoods in six months.
A former commodities broker from New York had several members of the Chicago-based National Futures Association on his hit list, according to federal prosecutors.
This morning's severe thunderstorm knocked out power for more than 600,000 people in the Chicagoland area. I caught a screenshot of the radar that I think explains why we were caught off guard by this storm.
Police are charging a local 18-year-old with disorderly conduct after a suspicious package left by "The Bean" in Milennium Park led police to evacuate part of the park. The package apparently only contained two bricks, and was left there as part of a "role-playing event."
City Council approved an ordinance allowing firing ranges within city limits -- just ahead of a court ruling striking down a ban on said firing ranges.
A man was beaten and stabbed by a group of young people on Halsted in Boystown Sunday night; the incident was caught on tape. Ironically, a "positive loitering" rally had been held the night before, after two similar attacks in recent weeks; the rally generated controversy itself.
The Wall Street Journal checks in on the Adler Planetarium's massive star show update; supercomputers are crunching data nonstop in advance of the planned July 8 debut.
A police officer in a clown costume shot and killed a teenager who tried to rob him at gunpoint last night as the officer was leaving a fundraiser for a day-care business on the South Side.
A whopping 83 percent of men arrested in Cook County last year tested positive for at least one illegal drug. UPDATE: The Reader's Steve Bogira points out those stats are kind of old.
Paige Wiser, the television critic at the Chicago Sun-Times for 17 years, left the paper after getting caught writing a fake review of "Glee Live." Wiser apparently fled the show early after one of her own kids fell off a chair and another puked in a cotton candy bag.
Today marks the first day of same-sex civil unions in Illinois, with many eagerly getting licenses. Catalyst Ranch is sponsoring a midnight group ceremony for six couples. Congratulations!
Lightning struck in Rogers Park this morning and took out some poor defenseless chimney bricks near Pratt and Greenview at the Lake Shore School. Luckily, no one appears to have been injured. Transmission contributor Dan Snedigar took some pictures of the debris.
Followup: Two police officers have now been officially charged with sexual assaulting a drunk woman they took home from the Wrigleyville bar area and played strip poker with.
A special shipment of 235 hogs will soon leave Chicago for South Korea to help replenish the country's herds after a devastating foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
A Los Angeles woman left her marriage and prepared to move to Colorado to be with a volunteer firefighter she met online when he suddenly died. Why did he die? Probably because he and more than 20 other people the woman met over the last year and a half were allegedly created by the same Batavia woman.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about these anti-abortion billboards which feature an image of President Obama on the south side of Chicago. Well, it turns out they're illegal and there is a petition to get them removed.
A guy parachuted off the under-construction Waterview Tower in the wee hours of Sunday morning. A police officer happened to hear his chute open, and was there to arrest him when he landed.
Two police officers are under investigation amid allegations that they played strip poker with and sexually assaulted a woman they had driven home to Rogers Park from the Wrigleyville neighborhood. The comments on Second City Cop regarding the case are worth reading.
The Sun-Times surely left an opportunity dangling with the straightforward headline on this story about the TLC Tugger, a foreskin restoration company soon to appear on the TLC network. I'm having trouble settling on just one.
We've mentioned several of the projects that the Chicago Justice Project has begun, but this newest one gives me hope. They'll be collecting information from three different city departments and offering suggestions on how to improve the amount and quality of data related to felony sex crimes. Since they're encouraging transparency, the membership list is public, and quite impressive. (Thanks, Veronica!)
The ads that University of Illinois at Chicago Graduate Assistants answered didn't say that, but they should have. Due to a change in tax law, GA's at University of Illinois are having their pay withheld until the taxes of their tuition wavers are paid. This means they work for free. GA's at Champaign-Urbana were given grants to cover this difference. GA's at UIC were told to take out loans. Don't think this is fair? Say so.
The president of Northwestern has announced an investigation into the motorized sex toy (aka "fucksaw") demonstration in a recent human sexuality class. (Previously.) Meanwhile, Rachel Rabbit White got the other side of the story from the people who put on the demo.
CBS2 reports on a recent rash of shoplifting cases in which groups of teenagers descend on a store, make a scene, and escape with merchandise. The attacks are allegedly organized via Twitter.
Perhaps inspired by Wisconsin Democrat senators who fled to Illinois to block a vote taking away collective bargaining rights from unionized government workers, congresspeople from Indiana are heading to Illinois (or Kentucky) to avoid a similar vote. Meanwhile, Arizonaesque anti-immigrant legislation has been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly, as well as in Indiana.
Three guys from the suburbs decided to trash the insides of some unlocked cars last night. Only problem was, the cars were on display in the Toyota booth at the Auto Show, surrounded by thousands of people, so of course they were caught.
Follow-up: Remember the guy who looked like "Owen Wilson without the crooked nose" who scammed a bunch of Oak Park businesses? He's been caught, and the description holds true.
Police chief Jody Weis said this weekend that his controversial decision to meet with West Side gang leaders last August led to a drop in crime, particularly murders. There is some skepticism.
Greg Kot has some gossip on who's going to headline this year's Lollapalooza music festival (August 5-7, 2011), and it's all bros. Word is that Eminem, Muse and Foo Fighters will likely be top on the bill.
A man described as "Owen Wilson without the crooked nose" is wanted for using counterfeit coupons at the Lake movie theater and several stores in Oak Park.
Terrified by alarming/alarmist media coverage of Illinois' new tax increases? The Tax Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit research organization, advises skepticism about some of the numbers reported. Not that we're not all still screwed, of course.
A Northwest side woman has been charged with disorderly conduct after calling police to (falsely) claim that her boyfriend, who was trying to break up with her, was attacking her. The real reason why she called? She was hoping to scare her now-ex into marrying her (I don't get it, either).
Though it was a deadly year in Chicago, the total number of homicides was 435, the lowest since 1965 when the total was 395. The 2010 total represents a drop of more than 54% from the all time high set in 1992 with 943 homicides.
A man was recorded stealing UPS packages off of a porch in Andersonville over the weekend. Police are still looking for him, or waiting for his heart to grow three sizes. [via]
Speaking of jail, white supremacist radio host Hal Turner was sentenced to 33 months in prison for threatening the lives of three Chicago appeals court judges after they overturned a local ban on handguns.
No less than 22,000 lbs of marijuana were seized on six train cars in Chicago Heights. It's nearly three times the size of the previous largest seizure in recent years.
A federal judge has ruled against the closure of Chicagoland's shipping locks, thereby dashing (at least temporarily) the hopes of anti-Asian-carpers in the Great Lakes basin.
Neither Rahm Emanuel nor Sen. Mark Kirk made their high school's hall of fame the Sun-Times reports. (h/t: Politico). Members of the hall of fame include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Christie Hefner (daughter of Hugh Hefner).
The Illinois Senate approved the bill giving same-sex couples the same rights in a civil union as married couples. Gov. Quinn is expected to sign the bill into law as soon as today.
Whatever your thoughts on WikiLeaks, the little tidbit culled from their latest document dump detailing how much the powerful Afghan president's brother "loves Lakeview" is undoubtedly entertaining.
A UPS cargo plane flying from Yemen to Chicago was detained in England when a suspicious package that appears to be a fake bomb was found on board. The package was addressed to a Chicago-area synagogue. UPDATE: The device and another found on a different flight did in fact contain explosives.
The Tribune and Sun-Times both report two officers are suing police superintendent Jody Weis for defamation, but one calls it libel, the other calls it slander. Which is it, guys?
Tomorrow's thunderstorms are likely to be pretty bad, with 55mph winds likely. But "Great Lakes Cyclone"? I don't think that means what you think it means.
Oak Brook-based McDonald's will raise prices in 2011. (But before you start considering a boycott, heed the online comments: according to one patriotic diner, "anyone who does not eat at McDonald's is not a true American.")
If you've yet to get to Longman&Eagle or Epic, you'd best do so soon: Esquire just named both places to its list of the country's best new restaurants. If the waits at Great Lake after their "best pizza in America" hat tip from GQ taught us anything, it's to get there before this issue hits the stands.
Forbes released its annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, and Illinois can claim three of the top ten. Not to be outdone, NBC Chicago's Feast published a list of 10 of Chicago's most badass female chefs.
There is unfortunate news today about the woman hurt while working as an extra on the set of Transformers 3. A lawsuit filed by her family details a grisly injury and claims she is "permanently brain damaged."
While lounging by the pool at his condo located in the Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas, Chicago personal injury attorney Bill Pintas claims to have been "cooked" by a "death ray" that resulted from the reflection of the sun hitting the concave, all-glass building.
Among the 23 brainiacs receiving a no-strings-attached $500k MacArthur Genius Grant is U of C Anthropology professor Shannon Lee Dawdy and Columbia College-educated director/actor David Cromer.
Beginning this morning, the FBI began searching the homes of antiwar activists located in Minneapolis, Chicago, Michigan and North Carolina. Details are vague, but no arrests have been made, nor are expected to be made. UPDATE: More information about the Chicago searches is becoming available.
After planting a bomb he believed would blow up an entire block of Wrigleyville on Saturday night, a 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged. Apparently he really hates Sluggers, Dave Matthews and Mayor Daley.
Rookie outfielder/likely vampire, Tyler Colvin was impaled by a shattered bat as he was running towards home during the Cubs-Marlins tilt in Miami yesterday. No word on whether Van Helsing was in attendance or not.
Anne Elizabeth Moore, local activist and writer for Vocalo.org, interviewed one of the women staying at Whittier Dual Language School until the city agrees to build the students a library. Araceli Gonzalez told Moore that security guards pushed her daughter and other children while arguing with the women to leave. If you think the parents of Whittier students deserve a library, you can sign a petition.
An oil pipeline in Romeoville sprang a leak yesterday. "One of our guys said it looked like the Beverly Hillbillies in the opening scene when the crude is bubbling up from the ground," said Romeoville Fire Chief Kent Adams.
Consumerist.com reports that a pregnant traveler felt like she was bullied by TSA agents to go through a full-body scanner instead of getting a pat-down exam. Yikes!
Chicago may be the third largest city in America, but it's only fourth on Match.com's list of cities most actively looking for dates this summer. Apparently Miamians are far more desperate than we are. [via]
Two US citizens traveling on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Amsterdam are being detained by Dutch police this morning after suspicious items in their luggage--several cell phones and $7,000 in cash--suggested to baggage screeners that the duo were making a dry run for a terrorist attack. Relatives claim that the two men were merely bringing gifts to family in their native Yemen.
While picking up her first Emmy award for her work on the television show "Glee" last night, Dolton native Jane Lynch name-checked the South Side in her acceptance speech. Lynch will be hosting an episode of "Saturday Night Live" later this fall (perhaps with the new locally grown talent who will join the cast for its next season). Other Chicago-connected talents who won awards at the ceremony include "Modern Family's" Eric Stonestreet and Jason Winer.
The director of the Department of Revenue was suspended for a day over the memo about police needing to up their ticket writing, after Mayor Daley called it stupid.
After 14 days of deliberations, the former governor of Illinois is only charged for lying to the FBI, a charge that carries a maximum of five years in jail and a $250k fine (prosecutors have until September 7 to decide if they want to retrial on the other 23 counts that the jury deadlocked on). Somewhere, Patrick Fitzgerald is stuffing his face with marshmallows.
While performing onstage at this weekend's Gathering of the Juggalos in downstate Cave-in-Rock, entertainer (?) Tila Tequila was injured by rocks, beer bottles, firecrackers, feces and urine thrown by concertgoers, some of whom later chased her to her trailer after Tequila abruptly ended her set. Update: now with NSFW video!
Q: A federal judge in California just overturned Prop 8, which banned same-sex marriages in the state, what are you going to do now? A: Go to a rally at Daley Plaza at 6pm, of course! Celebrants are encouraged to bring rainbow flags. (Thanks, Marc!)
The Elvis autopsy memorabilia that was to go on auction has been withdrawn last week due to "questions of ownership" -- but you may soon be able to bid on Rod Blagojevich's life-size statue of Elvis, along with other stuff from an Arlington Heights storage space.
The River City condos are being evacuated due to flooding caused by yesterday's storms, leaving residents without shelter for the next few days. Follow Gapers Block correspondent and River City resident Alissa Strother as she reports on the situation via her Twitter feed, (@alissas).
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's draft of Go to 2040, a plan for the Chicago area's next three decades, is available to read online. You can leave your comments for CMAP on the plan's site through August 6.
Fifteen small Chicago theaters just won $20,000 each from the Chase Community Giving contest. It was a unique community effort amidst an otherwise diverse field -- the national contest pitted nonprofits from all over the country in a Facebook voting spree to be in the top 200, so Chicago theaters ran against, for example, a blind cat shelter in North Carolina. Chicago's winners included Stage Left, Strawdog, The Hypocrites, Barrel of Monkeys, The House and The Neo-Futurists. WildClaw theater nabbed the 200th spot, in fact. (The blind cats placed 6th.) Now: What shall the theaters do with the cash?
This tourism story from the San Antonio Express News is so generic I almost wonder if the author even visited Chicago. Particularly shady: he supposedly caught a foul ball at a game -- but doesn't mention which park.
Xue Feng, a University of Chicago-educated geologist and US citizen, was sentenced to eight years in a Chinese prison for buying a database that contained information about the country's oil industry.
From Chicago magazine's archives: A story that traces the life of a gun that was fired at a 7-year-old girl in West Englewood. It's an excellent primer into how firearms end up in criminals' hands despite the efforts to prevent exactly that.
The latest in highway sploshing. A load of grapes spilled on the Stevenson yesterday, and today a truck rolled over on the Edens, losing 1200 cases of Miller Lite. Last March it was honey. Yummy. UPDATE: Here are a couple of photographs of the destroyedtruck.
The FDA is seeking to ban a doctor specializing in HIV research from doing future work due to false data, lack of protection for study participants, forged documents, and missing experimental drugs.
The jury pool for Blagojevich's trial includes a knitter, a couple ex-Marines and an avid runner -- and their professions and interests are fuel for some odd conjecture about their predispositions.
Condo foreclosures dominate Rogers Park. The problem goes beyond the neighborhood: the number of bank repossessions in nation's housing market increased by 44 percent in May.
After word spread about the Jesse White Tumblers' missing drums, donations to the group poured in, including from the Chicago Cubs Charities and the Ricketts family -- leading to a happy ending.
Three Illinois students (Arlington Heights, Peotone and Charleston represent!) have made it into the semifinalists of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which concludes tonight at 7pm on ABC7.
So apparently the Tribune wants to start up a photographic, chest-thumping competition between Illinois residents and those who live in Montana. Isn't that like getting involved in a land war in Asia?
Chicago Public Schools is apparently on the search for math and reading computer software that could help teach students each day, sans teacher supervision.
A memorial fund has been set up in honor of Albany Park boy Cashmere Castillo who fell into the Chicago River while playing last week. His body was found earlier today in the river near Lawrence Avenue.
The fake cobblestone streets from the Public Enemies film are at the center of a lawsuit. A man was severely injured when he crossed the rubber cobblestone street and his foot was wedged under a trolley track. He is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 for permanent physical injuries.
A UIC researcher has concluded (based on inventories of discarded empty packs of cigarettes from 100 city neighborhoods) that 75% of the cigarettes smoked in Cook County are not purchased in the county. But don't be angry that we will miss out on that much-needed tax revenue; those who buy their smokes on the down low have a convenient self-claim form to pay that extra $2 per pack.
How many firetrucks does it take to put out a fire in a highrise trash can? This many. (Better safe than sorry, of course.) UPDATE: Reader Nicole says, "To be fair, I work 20 floors above that fire, and the smoke was pretty bad up here."
Breaking news from the Sun-Times reports that a man fell to his death this morning at the Marina City Towers. The Fire Department was called to the scene, but little else is known at this time.
A Highland Park High School girl's basketball team has canceled a scheduled trip to Arizona. Speculation is that this move is in response to recent Arizona immigration reform despite the official reason listed as "safety concerns." Parents are upset at the apparent political statement being made with their children. [via]
President Obama announced this morning that Solicitor General Elena Kagan is his nominee to replace Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan taught at University of Chicago Law School and even played 16-inch softball, so I think we can claim her as one of our own.
It's a big day for strange and sad news in Chicago: the Tribune reports that a shooting at Old Navy on State and Washington was a murder-suicide. Live video coverage is available as of 11:45am.
A day after a criminal probe was launched against Metra's executive director, Phil Pagano was killed when he was struck by a train. UPDATE: The death is being called a suicide. And allegedly, "a copy of Metra's procedures on how to handle a service disruption after a suicide" was found on Pagano's body.
Despite televised riots in the streets of Greece, many (in this case WBBM Newsradio 780) are pointing to a supposed trading error in Chicago as the catalyst to yesterdays market free fall. The economy teetered on the edge because, if the reports are correct, a trader entered a 'b' instead of a 'm' before the 'illion'. Hear that Greece? It's not your fault.
Perhaps you've heard about Stephanie Grace, the Harvard Law student who penned an email last fall to her friends suggesting that African Americans are genetically predisposed to intellectual inferiority; Grace's words are now making the rounds of the (understandably outraged) Internet. A fellow Harvard classmate and UIC grad (who had some very surprising opinions about MLK Day in 2003) has been identified as the forwarder. Her motive? She was mad at Grace over a boy.
Wal-Mart really, really wants to open more stores in Chicago. So badly, in fact, they've agreed to talk to local unions. The conversation should be an interesting one, given the company's insistence that wages won't be on the table -- and their well-known stance on workers organizing.
From Chicago to Phoenix, yesterday's civil disobedience for immigration reform is drawing quite a bit of of national attention. How can we be sure it was a big deal? Well, the Huffington Post put a word in ALL CAPS in their article's title. They usually save that for celebrity NIPPLE SLIPS or when somebody famous LAYS THE SMACK DOWN on somebody else famous.
In case you hadn't heard, here's an update on the infamous Bucktown baseball attack story from last weekend. The comments, as always, are particularly interesting.
Also via Trib blog The Seeker, Ahmed Rehab and Hesham Hassaballa provide thoughtful responses to the turbulence between Comedy Central and Revolution Muslim.
According to some recently crunched numbers on Chicago's demographics, from 2000 to 2008, Chicago's African American population dropped while the suburban African American population grew. The 2010 census data may show an even greater exodus.
Whether or not the feasibility of a potential Mayor Rahm has you scratching your noggin, the Tribune compiled a list of interesting facts about the former ballet dancer turned White House chief of staff.
You're not imagining things: today is the hottest April 1 on record. The warmth doesn't last, alas -- Friday will stay warm, but the weekend looks to be rainy and cooler, moving back into normal spring temperatures.
An early morning fire has destroyed the building that houses Cakegirls bakery at 2207 W. Belmont Ave. A residential fire started on the second floor at about 5:30am and was brought under control by 7:00am but the Chicago Fire Department judge the building a total loss.
Kevin J. Long tried to bring four knives into the Daley Center courthouse last week. A search of his home turned up 1,600 knives, batons, brass knuckles, a few handguns, and "several pieces of papers with police officer and sheriff deputy names on them." I'm sure he has a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Now that criminals have learned to operate around the perimeters of blue light cameras, Chicago police plan to deploy smaller undetectable cameras around the city.
Well, he has another reason to dislike the home of Obama and Daley: a Chicago federal judge allowed a case against Rumsfeld to proceed that will explore his role in setting detainee handling policies in Iraq.
The Trib reviews recent research on the disparities in compensation, working conditions and demographic characteristics for those who work in the front of the restaurant compared to those who work in the back.
Aqua is to be named the recipient of the Skyscraper Award, the "world's most renowned prize for high-rise architecture" according to the presenter, global building database Emporis.
Belleville News-Democrat reporters George Pawlaczyk and Beth Hundsdorfer won the George Polk Award for Local Reporting for their investigative series on harsh conditions in a supermax prison.
The New York Times describes the struggle of Kenwood resident Jean-Paul Coffy as he cares for his parents in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. Coffy's Chicago friends are maintaining a blog following his travels.
Apparently, the far West Suburbs experienced a 4.33.8-magnitude earthquake this morning. That's the second one in about two years. No, we're probably not doomed.
Well, sort of. Fox River Financial Resourcesagreed to sell the property it owns near the landmark Hollywood sign to the Trust for Public Land -- but only after it was unable to sell it to a commercial developer. To raise money for the purchase, the Trust will change the sign to read "Save the Peak" on Thursday.
An identity thief's dream is floating around out in Des Plaines, as loads of W2s, job applications and other sensitive documents blow down Touhy Avenue.
Someone is following women from the Francisco Brown Line stop and attacking them, according to police and independent reports we've received here at Gapers Block. More details and descriptions of the suspects will be shared at Thursday night's Beat 1713 CAPS meeting, 7pm at the Korean American Senior Center, 5008 N. Kedzie Ave.
The Mayor's Office of Special Events announced today that the July 3 fireworks show has been canceled this year due to budget cutbacks. UPDATE: Instead, the City is planning three smaller July 4 fireworks shows for downtown and the North and South Sides -- the Trib has details.
A man with a gun has been spotted on Northwestern's downtown campus. Campus and Chicago police are searching the Rubloff Building. UPDATE: The lockdown has ended and all buildings on campus are open: an intensive search was conducted but no one matching the gunman's description was found.
A WBEZ report examines the CHA voucher program and finds that instead of provinding low-income tenants with more opportunities, it's actually creating more of the same.
This Saturday, several of Chicago's beloved bakeries and celebrated sweet shops will join forces for a charity bake sale, hosted by Medici on 57th. All proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam for their ongoing relief efforts in Haiti.
The heartbreaking tragedy in Haiti has claimed at least two victims with local roots. Andrew Grene, a Chicago native who studied at both Northwestern and the University of Chicago, was the top aide to the head of the UN's mission in the Caribbean country. He was confirmed as one of the casualties this morning. (Previously.)
The Center Square Ledger, "your definitive neighborhood guide to North Center, Lincoln Square and Ravenswood Manor," launches today. Read more about it in Mechanics.
An off-duty police officer shot a neighbor's dog yesterday. Seems like dog shootings have been in the news a lot lately. Is this a regularoccurrance or a case of echoing coverage?
Thomas Frank's magazine, The Baffler, has finally published its first resurrection issue. Alongside the new print, the magazine's website has also been streamlined. Check it out here.
Results of a UIC study reveal that the 2006 opening of a Walmart in Austin had a detrimental effect on job creation and economic development in the West Side neighborhood, causing nearly 100 nearby businesses to close after its opening and losing almost as many jobs as the new store provided.
Former governor Rod Blagojevich will be a contestant on the next season of the NBC show "The Celebrity Apprentice." He will join other luminaries such as comedian Sinbad and Poison's Bret Michaels. The show will debut March 14.
A man on a bicycle was hit by a southbound Brown Line train tonight near the Francisco stop. He was transported to the hospital in serious to critical condition. There are shuttle buses operating currently. Please be safe out there!
Last summer, a teenage girl felt threatened by a group of boys in a car who kept driving by, yelling, and threatening her and a friend. She picked up a rock and threw it at the car, smashing a window. Today, a judge found that, while the action wasn't the smartest move, the girl was justified in defending herself from possible assault.
Don't forget, from this Friday onward, you'll get a ticket for texting while driving. (Then again, how many people actually get tickets for using their phone while driving?)
Illinois is the fifth biggest state in the country according to new Census Bureau numbers. The Land of Lincoln has 12.9 million people which puts it behind California (37 million), Texas (24.8 million), New York (19.5 million), and finally Florida (18.5 million).
It's been a bad couple of days for animals in captivity in Chicago. First, one of two beluga whales born this week at the Shedd Aquarium died Tuesday. And today an elephant at the Brookfield Zoo had to be euthanized after suffering kidney failure.
Artist Christopher Drew has been fighting against Chicago's regulations against peddling for years, most recently with an "art for sale" poncho worn on State Street. Earlier this month the police finally arrested him, giving him the opportunity to fight it in court -- but also charged him with felony eavesdropping for taping his arrest despite it occurring in public. Reason notes it's just the latest attempt by the CPD to hide the identities of its officers.
A Naperville doctor was woken from a nap aboard a flight to Salt Lake City to deliver a baby. Mother and child are doing fine, but the doctor is a little sleepy.
The woman accused of attempting to record the movie New Moon at a Rosemont theater is facing three years in prison, but she has a surprising defender: the movie's director.
Former Bulls star Luc Longley won an eBay auction for naming rights to a new shrimp species found off the coast of Australia, not far from his home town. He named the colorful shrimp Lebbeus clarehanna after his 15-year-old daughter. Think you've got a better name? Tell us in Tailgate. [via]
It seems a computer containing undercover recordings from the Blagojevich corruption investigation were stolen from the offices of the attorneys defending Blago.
The RedEye is increasing its circulation from 200,000 to 250,000, making it the largest daily newspaper in Chicago and one of the largest in the nation, Kevin Pang notes.
The New York Times picks up on the troubled existence and continuing saga of the Block 37 project, despite the recent opening of the Puma flagship store there.
It's not just Black Friday, it's also a reduced service day in Chicago. Most city-run institutions will be closed which the city hopes will help fill a budget hole. This is the second of three reduced service days this year, the first one was on August 17, the last one is on Christmas Eve.
The Parking Ticket Geek and Reuters blogger Felix Salmon got into a back-and-forth about the Chicago Parking Meter story (and I got a few questions in) here.
The Chicago-Kent College of Law has opened the Center for Open Government. They'll focus on helping people challenge closed government practices under the Illinois Open Meetings Act, Freedom of Information Act, and other similar acts. An Oak Lawn resident who is suing her village for deciding to fire public employees by a private consensus, instead of a public hearing, is their first client.
David Axelrod was in town recently and James Warren sat down with him over a meal at Manny's. Warren's subsequent story briefly recounts Axelrod's journey from being a Chicago journalist to a senior advisor to the president.
Coming to the end of a banner week in his career, Mayor Daley told a reporter at a United Negro College Fund benefit last night that the media is partly to blame for Oprah Winfrey's decision to end her show in 2011. "So you keep kicking people, people will leave, simple as that."
Chicago's own Indiana Jones, Universtiy of Chicago celebrity palentologist Paul Sereno, unveils five new species of ancient crocodiles that he unearthed in the Sahara over the past few years. The new findings include the PancakeCroc. We're guessing it didn't eat flapjacks.
It seems Oprah, and her 453-local-employee-run Harpo Inc. studios are not fleeing the Windy City for L.A. as earlier speculated. Oprah is actually leaving her talk show altogether. The announcement will be officially made on her show (after 25 years on the air) Friday with the last show scheduled on Sept. 9, 2011.
The Wall Street Journal looks at the proliferation of outdoor surveillance cameras cropping up around the city and discusses the safety-vs.-privacy issues.
A Pittsburgh Steeler fan says he was poisoned and blinded while drinking at a bar near Soldier Field following a post-game altercation with Bears fans.
Remember how Generation X supposedly all slackers who hate their jobs? Yeah well, apparently the recession is is a good excuse to bring that stereotype back, with a twist.
Effective February 1. the Associated Press reports one way fares will increase by six percent alongside a $2 ($5 to $7) increase for weekend fares and a $1 ($2 to $3) increase for buying tickets on the train.
The first of 1,000 Illinois prisoners to be released early as part of a cost-cutting measure are springing free. Only 62 are to be released today, getting out of their sentences up to a year early.
The new area code 872 goes live on Saturday, so don't forget you'll need to dial an area code for any Chicago number -- even if it's in the same area code as your phone.
Elementary school students in Oak Park, Naperville and Villa Park are learning early about making "zero impact" on their environment. They're recycling, composting food scraps after lunch and sending far less trash to area landfills.
While demolition preparation continues for nearly all of the Michael Reese campus, the city is considering keeping one Gropius building, the Singer Pavilion.
Next month when The New York Times launches its Chicago edition, it will be edited by some big names in the media business -- James O'Shea, James Warren and Ann Marie Lipinski to name a few.
According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, Chicago is the nation's most stressed out city. Said survey was sponsored by Princess Cruises, who calls the survey their "Life Balance Barometer." No word yet on whether a cruise is the perfect stress reliever.
The New York Times launched its San Francisco "Bay Area Report" edition recently. The Times Company plans to launch a similar Chicago edition soon, although if the San Francisco venture is a flop the Chicago one probably won't happen either.
Call it The Blago/Ryan Rule. After having two consecutive governors involved in scandal, voters will get the chance to vote on a gubernatorial recall amendment on the November 2010 ballot. Meanwhile, former Gov. Blagojevich's hole gets a little deeper...and he's getting mud on a few others in the process.
Bernadine Dohrn, writing on the Huffington Post, reminds us that "Were this in Colombia, the Congo or Myanmar, we would recognize that children who are recruited into warring groups by much older adults to fight as child soldiers must be disarmed, demobilized, rehabilitated and reintegrated into the community."
A bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of the Sun-Times Media Group to the $25 million bid led by James Tyree. Of the 16 unions needed to realize the deal, 14 have approved it so far, and the bidders are optimistic about the final negotiations.
James Degorski, the second suspect in the infamous Brown's Chicken Massacre case, was found guilty this afternoon. Now all that remains is sentencing before this grisly tale finally comes to a close.
Apartment renters on the North Side of Chicago might have to dig a little deeper around the first of the month. Thanks to tax assessment hikes, landlords are contemplating "skyrocketing" rent increases for the rest of this year and 2010.
The Field Museum Univeristy of Chicago's star paleontologist Paul Sereno announced the discovery of Raptorex, an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex but 100 times smaller. (Thanks, Kevin!)
There's a certain poetic irony to the thought of multiple bands called the Drifters performing all over the country, questionable strangers blowing through town for a gig and then disappearing into the night.
Then you may want to consider buying Al Capone's Wisconsin retreat. It has "407 secluded acres with a 37-acre private lake, an eight-car garage and a guard tower."
Some Chicago runners are hanging up their sneakers and hitting the trail barefoot, or in new glove-like shoes intended to simulate the au natural feel. It's more natural, they say, and even cuts down on pain (once your feet get tough enough to handle the rocks and gravel).
Speaking of shopping, if you're thinking about spending time on Michigan Avenue from Wacker Drive to Ohio Street anytime between Monday and Wednesday morning, the street will be closed to vehicular traffic in order to tape Oprah's new season kickoff. If you want to get in on the O action, the show will begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday and will be free and open to all. You can scope out the best seats ahead of time by reviewing this map [pdf] of the event.
Midwest Generation, LLC, the Edison International subsidiary that runs the Fisk and Crawford coal-burning power plants on the South Side (and four others in Illinois), is being sued by the state and U.S. EPA for allegedly upgrading systems without meeting current Clean Air Act controls.
The Sun-Times looks into the late Ted Kennedy's ties to Chicago, from the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention and an endorsement from then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, to the to the Merchandise Mart and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
Two women who run a nail salon in Countryside were convicted of aggravated battery for threatening their landlord with a gun...shaped lighter. They claim they were using the lighter as part of a prayer ceremony; he says he feared for his own life and that of his young daughter. Despite their conviction, at least the women know they have a loyal customer base -- a crowd of more than 20 showed up to support them.
Imagine if your identity was stolen by a criminal with more than credit card fraud on his record -- and the police find you first. It happened to Loyola student Darius Whitehorn, and led to a week spent in jail.
This story contains nothing of obvious Chicago interest -- unless you're a Cubs fan. Then the idea of a goat potentially being sacrificed in connection with the Viking Brett Favre might make a little more sense. [via]
A result of the economy, a lack of nursing graduates, and a possible wave of nurses retiring from the field, more of these health care professionals are needed, and Chicago is no exception.
A controversy is a-brewin' in Carol Stream, where a former library worker filed a federal discrimination lawsuit. She alleges her firing was political.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan is going after the Chicago-based maker of a malt liquor energy drink which contains 12.5 percent alcohol by volume for its alleged questionable marketing tactics.
Apparently robberies including mugging were only up 1.1 percent through July, but it sure seems like violent crime is up more than that this summer, doesn't it? Anecdotal evidence sure points that way.
WTTW's Chicago Tonight is devoting its September 1 show to health care reform, and is looking for interested audience members. "We'll be hearing from legislators, insurers, doctors and hospitals...but we also want to hear your questions and concerns," says an alert the channel sent to supporters today. To request a ticket, email the show or call 773-509-5590.
An alligator was found lurking in the north branch of the Chicago River, near Damen and Fullerton. Last year, one was spotted in the south branch near Bridgeport.
The Trib's John Kass points to a Facebook group "Lakeview 911" that was created this month to gather "concerned citizens" who want to connect about the recent muggings in the neighborhood. Remember EveryBlock is also a great local resource on crime stats relative to your street, no matter where you live in the city.
A man taking an evening run last night was shot in an apparent robbery attempt around 10pm on the 7000 block of North Sheridan. Luckily the jogger was not seriously injured.
Suspects have been arrested in connection the recent spate of muggings in Lincoln Park and Roscoe Village -- which isn't to say you shouldn't be on your guard when walking alone late at night.
Director, writer, and producer John Hughes has died of a heart attack. A graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, he wrote, directed or produced a number of films set in fictional Chicago suburbs, including National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles and Home Alone.
In another strange arrest, the FBI arrested a 20-year-old for making approximately 300 "unauthorized transmissions" over CTA radio waves. He was identified by his voice when he and his brother asked if they could collect a reward for returning a stolen CTA radio. In related news, the FBI apparently needs to hire a copy editor. Perhaps you could edit their release as an introduction.
An 86-year-old woman was caught stealing "anti-wrinkle cream ... other cosmetic items, nearly a dozen packs of AA batteries, four packs of Taster's Choice coffee and several packs of salmon" by stuffing them in her pants. Other interesting facts: she's been arrested more than 60 times and has at least 20 aliases.
Jerry Reinsdorf, who already owns the Bulls and White Sox, is a little bit closer to adding some puck-wielding Coyotes to his stable after the NHL's unanimous approval of his bid. Don't worry Hawks fans, he plans on keeping the team in Phoenix.
The firm that leased seven oases on the Illinois Tollway may be foreclosed upon -- and turns out to have made big campaign contributions to Blago to sweeten the deal. [via]
The latest version of the Ford Taurus has workers at a South Side auto plant keeping their fingers crossed that it becomes a hit. If it's a success with the public, it could mean more jobs at the Torrance Ave. factory.
As our Fuel question demonstrates, when it comes to the Sears/Willis Tower name change, people either lament the loss of another piece of "Chicago" or you think it's much ado about nothing. Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin falls on the side of the former and tries to put the whole thing in perspective.
So you know that $300 million budget shortfall? In true Chicago style, the city has opted to make up part of the funds with more aggressive car ticketing and booting. Motorists with two unpaid tickets older than one year have been punished, with 183,293 seizure notices and 3,493 boots thus far.
Late Sunday night on the West Side, approximately 35 police cruisers were called to a Family Dollar store. While there are no other media reports at this point, police officers stated "about 20 people looted" the store, and bystanders were discussing people going "in and out five times." All visible doors were open, and a window was broken in the front. Here's one photograph from the scene.
Although it's not hard to catch him smoking in front of the Tribune Tower or having a burger at Billy Goat, 100 lucky Tribune print subscribers will schmooze and make beer-can chicken with legendary columnist John Kass Aug. 1 at the Cantigny Golf Club in Wheaton.
When the weather forecast is too vague, institutions from the city to universities are calling on private meteorologists to take some of the uncertainty out of the day.
A new study shows Illinois kids are in a Top 10 list that no one's bragging about. One in three Illinois children is overweight or obese, and Illinois ranks 10th in the country for percentage of children ages 10-17 who are too heavy.
"The housing bubble caused a migration bubble and it has burst." In non-sound byte language: Depressed housing prices in California and Florida mean fewer people are moving out there. Consequently, established cities are making population gains. We gained 21,000 people last year.
Does Chicago pay too much to move bodies to the morgue? Ald. Edward M. Burke says yep, and wants to hold hearings about the contractor, which the city pays $915 to transport each body. In good old Dayton, OH, the company's hometown, it's a measly $75 per body.
The thought of year-round school is enough to make any elementary school student pound his or her head on their locker in anguish. So if you hear repeated banging coming from the vicinity of Herzl Elementary School in North Lawndale, you'll know why.
The world of infomercials (or, shows you find yourself watching at 2 AM) will never be the same: Pitchman Billy Mays, who brought OxiClean into our lives, died this morning at age 50.
Unemployment is hitting Chicago hard, with a seasonally unadjusted jobless rate for the metro area of 10.7 percent. That's the highest level since August 1983.
The FBI arrested a New Jersey blogger for writing that three Chicago-based federal judges "deserve to be killed," then posting their photographs, phone numbers and a map of their courthouse on his blog. He was upset that the judges recently upheld the handgun ban in Chicago and Oak Park.
Twenty-one million dollars is the most a jury has ever awarded in Chicago for a wrongful conviction. Juan Johnson's is just the latest acquittal tied to alleged police misconduct. If what the city lawyers say is true however, there is a lot more than meets the eye.
A Hudson News store at O'Hare used a blinder (a black plastic square usually reserved for porn mag covers) to obscure the "racy" cover of the latest GQ. No, it's not the ingenue du jour cupping her breasts and crotch. It's Sacha Baron Cohen in character as BrĂ¼no. Uh, hubba-hubba?
A former North Chicago "Police Officer of the Year" was just released from jail after pistol-whipping Waukegan's police chief. The reporter also wants you to know that the former Police Officer of the Year's "telephone number is unlisted."