Our nominations for Father of the Year and 911 Dispatcher of the Year are in. more ›

Ten years ago, "Can you listen to 'Dust in the Wind?' " was a question no one asked. But Clear Channel decided to answer it anyway. more ›

Don't call it a 9/11 novel. Whatever author Alex Shakar's ambitious, intricate and searching second novel Luminarium may be, it is much more than its backdrop of the fifth anniversary of that attack. The book follows Fred Brounian as he makes sense of himself and his world, where his software company is hijacked by the "Military-Entertainment Complex," the only positive vibes in his shambles of a personal life seem to be side effects of a neuroscientific research study, and texts and emails from his comatose twin brother start popping up. As a writer, Shakar is somehow a satirist of technology, an experimental scientist, a spiritual guide and a game designer rolled into one, but to make a setting such as 9/11 commemoration recede into a supporting role, he also moonlights as a magician. more ›

Chicago residents will now be able to send photos and videos to 911 operators via their phones, according to a report from the Sun Times. The Office of Emergency Management and Communication began taking images from Chicago residents as part of a pilot program in September and so far has received at least 40 images. Chicago is the first city to pilot such a program. more ›

A woman on the Northwest Side was charged with disorderly conduct after calling 911 in the hopes that police would unwittingly act as the heavies in a shotgun wedding. more ›

Although many lives were lost, many other lives were changed. The nine year anniversary of 9/11 comes during a time of great political and social controversy. But today at the Pentagon, Obama acknowledged that "this is a time of difficulty for our country, and it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness -- to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common." more ›

As Six Flags Great America gets ready to celebrate "Muslim Family Day" on Sunday, September 12, conservative wingnuts are up in arms that the amusement park would be so insensitive to have such a day the same weekend that the country is honoring and remembering the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack. more ›

As the United States marks the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacked, this year's date is perhaps one of the most politicized. At the center of that politicization, unfortunately, is a small-town Florida pastor hijacked attention with his declarations that today be declared "International Burn a Koran" day, and his near-insistence that his church will torch a stack of Qur'ans at sundown today. And while Terry Jones has since declared that "We will definitely not burn the Qur'an," on the national news, "not today, not ever," the fact of the matter remains that hundreds of millions of people are still offended by the display of ignorance. Across the internet, pleas have been talking about a counter-demonstration of sorts, calling today "International Buy a Qur'an Day." And even if you don't see yourself participating in a global protest against Gainesville's Terry Jones, this could also be an opportunity to read the sacred text of one of the major world religions. more ›

On the morning of September 11th, news radio was the destination for up-to-the-minute updates on what was happening in New York, Washington DC, as well as here in Chicago. While most people were glued to the national network feeds coming from the scene, local radio had to balance the coverage from abroad as well as handle the reaction closer to home. more ›

Publicity stunt, freedom of speech, or an equal mixture of both? Whatever your take on it, the Rev. Terry Jones of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida is getting maximum use out of the First Amendment with his plan to burn the Qur'an on Saturday, which just happens to be the anniversary of 9/11. Reaction has been ... well, you can probably guess. President Obama said, "I just hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values [as] Americans." Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has warned that the event will endanger U.S. troops stationed around the world: "Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence." Even Sarah Palin condemned the event though not without using her pretzel logic as another chance to oppose the Muslim community center planned near Ground Zero: "Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation - much like building a mosque at Ground Zero." more ›

• The Arizona boycott is now apparently making its way around City Hall.
• In the wake of this weekend's violence, 130 additional police officers will soon be on the streets of Chicago.
• Rod and Patti Blagojevich will take the stand in their own defense.

Robert Marshall, who is running for U.S. Senate as a "conservative Democrat," told suburban paper Daily Herald's editorial board today that he thinks the government is making a bigger deal out of al-Qaida than it actually is and that their threat and influence is "grossly exaggerated." Marshall says that al-Qaida is nothing more than a "small ragtag band of pirates" that can be controlled by police action instead of the military. As for al-Qaida's murder of over 3,000 U.S. citizens, Marshall says: more ›

Most of us have been there before: it's a late night of drinking and partying but suddenly your friends bail without telling you and you're left sitting in the corner of a 4 a.m. bar alone except for the bag of Taco Bell you bought two hours before. You need a ride home but the streets are empty and you don't have any cab companies stored in your cell phone. How do you get home? Have the bar call you a cab. Keep waiting for a cab. Walk. Call and wake up your BFF if you have to. Just don't call 911 unless it's an actual emergency. It may seem like common sense, but one man recently learned the hard way this is a no-no. more ›

Two 911 emergency center employees have been suspended without pay for their part in a "dispatch delay" that left an off-duty Chicago cop alone to defend himself against a car full of alleged gang members, the Sun-Times reports. more ›

After working the night shift at Pockets in Lincoln Park, Victorino Valle pulled his minivan in the garage of his Brighton Park home and just before closing the garage door, turned to see his 8-year old son Alexander in a state of shock. Alexander told his father that he heard a baby crying in the alley. His parents discovered a crying newborn lying in a trash can and immediately called 911. According to Chi-Town Daily News, when the police arrived they found a two-week old boy in the trash can which was filling with rain water. more ›

As Mayor Daley announced layoffs after playing hardball with a pair of unions, the Sun-Times takes on a batch of 911 workers who have each earned over $10,000 of overtime pay this year. The city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications, however, insists these workers are putting in extra hours thanks to more calls and several position vacancies, making the overtime necessary. Spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez said, "Every ring could mean the difference between life and death." more ›

(Did you like that title? Nobody has ever used it before.) On Sept. 10, 2001, Barbara Koenen shaved her head. The next day brought the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On Sept. 12, 2001, Koenen heard President Bush respond to the attacks by declaring war on "terror" and encouraging us to go shopping, and knew she needed to respond. In addition to signing petitions, sending email blasts, writing letters to the editor and other standard anti-war activities, she also vowed not to cut her hair "until the 'war on terror' was over." more ›

If you've ever wandered past the ever-under-construction mass of steel and concrete at the corner of State & Kinzie, that's the Museum of Broadcast History, the same group that put out the list of Top 125 American Political Broadcast Moments earlier this week. And, being as that lists are made to be pulled apart, dissected, shredded and argued over, who are we to get in the way of such rich tradition? There are some entries... more ›

Lonely phone calls, dying and dead relatives, a literary classic, and a reexamination of the Middle Eastern conflict took the prizes at the 2007 Third Coast International Audio Festival competition. The jury turned much of their lives over to their headphones, listening to 225 entries in search of the best English-language radio docs. Winners received a trophy/sonic instrument, a national platform for their work, and some cash to help support their future work. more ›

Yeah, people knew how to fly the friendly skies on November 21st, 1965, when the menu above was served on a United Airlines flight from Denver to San Francisco. This and 380 other menus from airlines, ocean liners, and railroad lines are available for perusal online at the Transportation Library archives of Northwestern University. The archives hark back to a time when multiple course meals were de rigueur not only for first class passengers,... more ›

It almost plays like a plot from a trifling summer movie: The Illinois Medical District wants to build a new biotech building on the Near West Side. The kicker is, they want to build it in the same spot as a current Little League baseball field. In a letter dated Sept. 25, Medical District counsel states that the Chicago Park District must remove all improvements from Livingston Park, at Lexington and Leavitt, so that construction... more ›

Issues, shmissues. The real story is that the terrorist madrassa-taught, non-black, freedom-hating Barack Hussein Obama doesn't wear an American-flag lapel pin. We were startled when last night's TV news tag line said, "Why is Obama's patriotism in question? Tonight at 9." Though we have been suckered into watching the news based on these tag lines before, we were again let down when it was all about a pin. Those awe-inspiring pins are a standard among... more ›

People could not get enough Tracy Letts this summer. But lo, we have discovered the ultimate praise of the local playwright: a "99 Problems" spoof from comedy duo Southern Mothers (Russ Armstrong and John Dixon). Lines like "99 problems, high reference ain't one," and "his dick is so hard it survived 9/11" are hilarious, but we're really geeked about the shout-outs to all the Steppenwolf ensemble members.... more ›

It was a Tuesday — a beautiful, sunny Tuesday at that. Most likely, most of the United States was getting ready for or just starting an average Tuesday in September. And then, the unthinkable happened. Two planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, and yet another plane was crashed in Pennsylvania. The country was legitmately in "shock and awe." However, there were those of us who... more ›

As part of the old Brach's legacy was being blown up for Batman, intentionally causing a blaze, there have been several other fire related bits in the news as well. The police Bomb and Arson Section and Chicago Fire Department are conducting an ongoing investigation of a warehouse fire that started Thursday night in Bridgeport. Just before 10 p.m., a fire was reported at a building near Halsted and 36th Streets in the 3600 block... more ›

About a month ago, Chicagoist spoke with Kumail Nanjiani about his then-new one-man show. In Unpronounceable, Nanjiani breaks from his usual stand-up routine and talks about his religious Muslim upbringing in Pakistan, his move to Iowa when he was 18, and his subsequent loss of faith and turn toward atheism. more ›

One year after she took refuge inside a Humboldt Park storefront United Methodist church, immigration fugitive, mother, and unlikely activist for immigration reform Elvira Arellano announced that she would risk deportation by leaving the church to head to Washington, DC to lobby Congress for immigration reform. "If this government would separate me from my son, let them do it in front of the men and women who have the responsibility to fix this broken law... more ›

Would Hollywood make a movie about a swingin' 70's housewife, complete with musical numbers? Or a documentary about New York City's Union Square in the days immediately following 9/11? Would Hollywood make a movie about Thax? more ›

- BREAKING: The Tribune and Sun-Times agree to a historic distribution deal where the Bright One contracts the Tribune to handle most of its delivery. More on this tomorrow after we've had time to let this one sink in. - A Dallas real estate investment firm is thisclose to signing off on an $850 million deal for four downtown office buildings, including 440 S. LaSalle, aka One Financial Place. - United Airlines files lawsuits... more ›

Mayor Daley and the rest of his Getalong Gang took their Olympic show on the road yesterday, heading to Rio de Janeiro to the Pan American Games, sort of a regional Olympics. Daley and company are hoping to learn a few lessons from an actual large-scale event, rather than just what they might envision on their drawing board. It won't be a carnival for the boys behind the bid, however, after the USOC issued a... more ›