A West Side man now faces three felony charges for allegedly planting fake bombs at two prominent downtown buildings, Chicago Breaking News reports.

We've all done it: Google or Facebook stalk old friends from college or high school. One guy did it a few years ago and made quite a discovery about an old high school friend. (Mostly SFW, a few naughty words) [via]

Three men were arrested earlier this week for a rash of Craigslist-aided robberies that began in October, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Heading downtown for the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival? You won't be alone: the Trib reports 800,000 are expected at the fest which has already kicked off and runs all day, climaxing with a parade this evening from 5:30 p.m. til 6:55 p.m. Of course, there are some reroutes and traffic issues to deal with if you're heading downtown for any reason. If you're taking the CTA, be sure to check in here for their bus reroutes and if you're driving, here's a list of road closures, courtesy of the Tribune.

       

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In spite of yesterday's ruling that stripped control of the beleaguered Block 37 project from its developer, the project will see the first store opening today after the city gave the project the green light, according to Crain's. Today will see the opening the opening of both the pedway and the Steve Madden store. A spokeswoman for the developer, Joseph Freed & Associates, LLC, said they expect two additional stores - Zara and Puma - to open early next week and several more will follow suit by Thanksgiving.

No pro sports last night but there was a trio of area college hoops game.

It'll be a through-and-through gorgeous day to get outside for yard work or the kids or whatever you like to do on your weekend. Highs will be in the mid-50s and sunshine will be plentiful. Tonight, under clear skies, temps drop into the upper 30s.

Awesome timelapse video by Joshua Mellin

We pondered the new Chicago section of the NY Times and even reminded you yesterday and...now it's here. I actually picked up a copy this morning but haven't had time to read it yet. However, lucky for me (and all of you, right?) you can also access the content online here. Besides the CNC's NY Times content, the site also features Chicago-centric headlines from other sources as well as links to other helpful Chicago sites (including us!). Of course, if you're reading this then you probably already know that stuff.

Is it any surprise that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers couldn't properly maintain a levee to hold up against a hurricane when they can't even seem to keep a fish out of Lake Michigan? New word from the Corps in the fight against the Asian carp is that they've discovered the fish's DNA beyond an electronic barrier that was set up along the Illinois River to keep the fish out of the Great Lakes. The new evidence was found a mere 7 miles from Lake Michigan, and at this point if the carp makes its way through a navigational lock it's home free from there, and its feeding habits will wreak havoc on the Great Lakes native species. Cameron Davis, from the Environmental Protection Agency, said that the DNA evidence is "very accurate" in terms of indicating the fish's presence.