Ugh. Thank you, ESPN Chicago, for twisting the knife and - as the Cubs see their slim odds of a playoff appearance in 2009 disappear in the wake of a season of mediocrity and controversy - reminding us of another Cubs team, one that made a great run through the NL East only to see a two games to none lead in the NLCS (in a best-of-five series, mind you) over the San Diego Padres vanish as the Padres won three straight on their way to the World Series. more ›

Mayor Daley loves cameras. Be it red light cameras, street sweeping cameras, or surveillance cameras, he can't seem to get enough of them. So he must be thrilled after last night's "unveiling" of 200 new security cameras placed around Navy Pier. The new $4.2 million monitoring system comes from IBM and, in a way, makes sense as Navy Pier is one of the city's top tourist attractions; Crain's says 8.3 million people visited in 2008. Or maybe Mayor Daley just wants to keep an eye on all those commies over at WBEZ (we kid!). The system, which was installed in February, has already proved useful. more ›

In a technology upgrade Mayor Daley is heralding as a major step forward in fighting crime, the city's police cameras have been successfully integrated with the city's 911 system so that when a 911 call comes in to the dispatch center, the system will automatically scan for any police cameras within 150 feet of the reported incident. Video would then appear on the dispatcher's screen within seconds, enabling them to forward more helpful information to responding officers. more ›

"Some people talk about the ACLU and all these privacy rights. But if a crime takes place, those individuals had to come from somewhere. I don't care if it's my brother or my mother. If those cameras do what they're supposed to do, whoever suffers will suffer."