Extra, Extra

• Two sad deaths to report. Sidney Sheldon, who was born in Chicago, has passed away. Also, old-school Chicago newspaper legend Ed Rooney died from complications with a stroke he had in December. Both men were in their 80s and will be missed.
• The Bears' NFC title trophy is on display at city hall, if anyone wants to see it.
• There have been 3 new casinos proposed for the area.
• Dr. Aida Giachello, a suburban doctor, was named one of People en Espanol's 100 most influentual Hispanics in the world.
• IL gets an A in its efforts to fight obesity in kids.
• This cold weather spell killed 2 people already.
• A man and woman were found fatally stabbed on the West Side.
• Sara Lee is laying off 1,700 people.
• Kismeet, a missed-connections site, just launched for Chicago.
• America might not believe in Da Bears, but LAist does.
• Admission to the Art Institute is free February 1-21, and admission to the Museum of Science and Industry is free February 1-7. We can't find the MSI promo on their site, but we got a press release about it today.
• Make sure you've got our big Ctrl-Alt-Rock event marked on your calendar for next Thursday. We just got a bunch of t-shirts and pins in today and are ready to give them out to you next week! See you there!

"Bears Fan Bears Van" via panagrapher.