Extra, Extra

• After 81 years, the University of Illinois is getting rid of its Chief Illiniwek mascot.
• The Art Institute will be showing a traveling exhibit of famous impressionist and modern art by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso and Gauguin, to name a few.
• Appropriately, because we just celebrated the Chinese New Year, there's a lot of Chicago/China news: Where there was once a junkyard, we may someday see a new hotel in Chinatown that shows its Asian influence throughout. The hotel will be 15 stories tall with an ornate, pagoda-style roof, and the floors will be dedicated to Chinese dynasties with custom furniture to those periods. And it will all honor feng shui principles. Also, to build a bridge between the US and China, Chicago is opening an economic development office in Shanghai.
• The first public fundraiser for our bid for the Olympics doesn't take place for weeks, yet it's already raised at least $6 million.
• IL is the 5th largest exporter in the United States after a record year last year.
• Amorphophallus rivieri, aka "devil's tongue," is in bloom at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. The stinky flower only blooms once a year and is said to smell like rotting meat.

"Clouds as beacon" by kudzuplanet.