Today through Wednesday, we're counting down the top 9 stories of 2009 according to the Chicagoist staff. more ›

All this talk of 2016 had us thinking: if/when we get the Olympics, what sports will we go see? Sure, there's basketball and track & field. But what about the smaller sports? Handball! Field Hockey! Badminton! We're so in. And then one thought led to another and here we are thinking of synchronized swimming and what is probably the most underrated Saturday Night Live skit of all time (NBC doesn't even have an official clip of it in their SNL Archives) featuring Harry Shearer, Martin Short, and Christopher Guest (who shows us where he got inspiration for his character in the 1997 film Waiting For Guffman). more ›

There's been much speculation over the past day or two whether or not President Obama will be visiting Copenhagen ahead of the October 2nd IOC vote for the 2016 Summer Olympics host city. Speculation heightened when Mayor Daley, at a press conference this morning, made a reference to a phone call he received from Obama. Now come reports that an Obama is going to Copenhagen, it's just not the one everyone assumed it would be. Instead, First Lady Michelle Obama will take on diplomatic duties in Denmark, helping make a final pitch in the name of Chicago. While the First Lady certainly will make a good impression on the IOC with her dignity and grace, one can't help but wonder if anything less than the President himself matters to the IOC. We also wouldn't be that surprised if the President himself still manages to make the trip, though he claims the fight for his health care reform is what might keep him stateside. more ›

Olympics support has dwindled to 47 percent, according to a Tribune/WGN poll released today. more ›

• Nicole Abusharif was convicted today by a DuPage jury in the death of her former lover, Rebecca Klein; she faces a sentence of up to 60 years.
• State health officials have confirmed 82 cases of the swine flu state-wide.
• An August date has been set as the start for the trial of James Degorski, the latest suspect to face trial in the 1993 Brown's Chicken killings.

The City of Chicago is putting the finishing touches on its clean up as we prepare to welcome the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission tomorrow, their first stop on their candidate city evaluation tour. The last potholes have been filled, the last sidewalk has been pressure-washed, and the homeless have all been rounded up and temporarily relocated to an undisclosed location for the next week. more ›

John Murray, chief of bid operations for Chicago 2016, said earlier this week that funding for Chicago's Olympic bid will come from a trust fund that is 100 percent privately funded. He said that public funds will not go directly toward the Olympics, and the CTA's expansion would occur without the Olympics and Bronzeville residents need not be worried about being displaced. Murray is also trying to downplay the role of the Blagojevich controversy in all this more ›

As we await the October announcement as to who will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, WBEZ has unearthed an old episode of Eight Forty-Eight (from August 2004) that looks at how Chicago lost the 1904 Olympics to St. Louis. Originally awarded to Chicago, the Olympics were eventually moved to St. Louis after Chicago backed down due to threats from the organizers of the 1904 Worlds Fair - Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which was being held in St. Louis, to hold an athletic competition that would outshine the Chicago Olympics. A good listen and definitely of interest to anyone anxiously looking towards this fall's decision. more ›