Skybus has gone belly-up, not only canceling fights out of Gary, but flights to all 15 cities they serviced. Photo by NickWarzy. Another sign that the economy is falling out of the sky? Skybus ceased all operations at the close of business yesterday. This is the second airline servicing the Chicago area to shut down this week. Skybus had just begun service out of Gary not even a month ago. Their actions leave Gary......

Mayor Daley sure is busy. Or at least chatty. Yesterday Mayor Daley said he asked the Cook County Board of Review to reopen the appeals process for a special two-week period, March 17-31, for homeowners who feel that their property tax has been assessed too high as a result of the downturn in the housing market. The City has given the board of review data about which areas have seen declining home values, and it......

The CTA will be spending $227 million in federal funds on improving itself and fixing slow zones. Doors open on the left at "finally." In other CTA news, the Yellow Line is going to start running on weekends. [S-T, Trib] Chicago police officers made heroic rescues in a fire last night in a Chicago Housing Authority building. [Trib] This just in: Airport security might be bullshit. [S-T] Patrick Daley's sewer company did $200,000 worth of......

Less than two years after receiving over $15 million in TIF money and fuel tax breaks, rumors are flying (heh) that United may merge with Delta, creating uncertainty if our hometown airline will remain based for the long term in its Wacker Drive digs, or if it will leave and take their 325 full-time jobs with them. Fortunately, as part of the financial deal, United's "successor entity" would be locked into the space for......

Police officially identified the body of Eric Kaminski today, announcing that the remains they uncovered in a Pilsen basement on Saturday belong the Oak Park Lawn man who had been missing since 2004. A tip led police to 2248 W. Coulter St, where cadaver dogs helped locate the body under six feet of concrete and limestone. The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and police already have a suspect in custody (he was being......

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … an electric shaver? Low-rise capris? A James Michener book? Holy cripes, DUCK!!! This very well could have been the scenario yesterday in the vicinity of Midway Airport. Seems a Delta plane bound for Atlanta (or “Hotlanta,” as one of our coworkers insists on calling it) experienced a pressure abnormality soon after takeoff. Upon inspection, it was revealed that one of the bin doors holding the luggage at......

Of the grassroots congressional campaigns this season, Mark Pera's race to unseat 3rd District Congressman Dan Lipinski is among the more notable. According to the Pera campaign, they out-raised Congressman Dan Lipinski during the 3rd quarter, $100,000 to $75,000. Even more telling was where the money came from: Pera's nearly 850 contributions came from individual donors, while just one of Lipinski's 74 contributions was from inside the district ($100 from a single contributor in Brookfield).......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. Bostonist got a crash course in what not......

Before we had kids, we thought that Babies on a Plane! was a more apt horror movie title. Now that we’re on this side of the aisle, we have a little more perspective and a lot more sympathy for parents trying to get their little ones through a flight. Any parent who has traveled with their child has a bag of tricks to get them through the actual flight: bringing along favorite toys, finally relinquishing......

What is wrong with people? Chicago police say a fisherman at Montrose Harbor may have been murdered, simply because he was Asian. The South Side is getting their prayer on after last year's tragic incidents of children being caught in the crossfire. Jesse Jackson is going around asking parents to send their kids to school. And he's finding it ironic that he has to beg when African-Americans fought to go to school in the......

Here are some other newsworthy items to ponder while we slap some Tiger Balm on our knees. Serves us right for riding our bikes to Morgan Park and back. Even when being deported, Elvira Arellano can't stop talking. She also got to see her 8-year-old son, Saul, before leaving. He's staying with his grandmother godmother. The "cell-phone bandit?" Now that's a robber with a gimmick. Bond for two men accused of robbing former Bull......

- Say hello to Cuppy's. Another coffee chain opens its first Chicago location. - Taking parenting advice from Britney Spears, a 26-year-old woman left her kids in the car with the windows up and hot air blowing while she went to Cook County Criminal Court on the south side. - Oak Park/River Forest High School alumni Charles Simic was named poet laureate by the Library of Congress. - Keep drinking your beer, Cubs fans.......

This weekend beach goers will have the chance to view a little bit of history flying overhead. The Wings of Freedom Tour is bringing their B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell World War II aircraft to the Chicagoland area. The airplanes will be based at Chicago Executive Airport (formerly Palwaukee) from Friday through Monday and conducting flights up and down the lake front. These unique planes will be on display at Chicago Executive......

Parking rates at many downtown garages and lots have gone up in the last year, keeping pace with increasing demand for office space and nudged by residential development and price increases. We thought you could drop out after 16 if you wanted ... A state law that went into effect July 1 will revoke the licenses of students who have more than 18 unexcused absences from school, are expelled or drop out. It's part......

All safety measures appear to have been working when a bicyclist was hit by a Brown Line train on the 4600 block of North Rockwell. Because we don't have enough to worry about -- the idea of a direct rail link from the Gary/Chicago International Airport to downtown Chicago is gaining steam and giving a push to other dormant rail. Those warnings before DVDs are no joke: Federal authorities have charged a Chicago man......

Now that Blago's $7.6 billion tax plan has crashed and burned in the state legislature, he's doing a total 180, embracing expanded gambling in Illinois to try and cope with a state budget that is in serious trouble. The legislation, backed by Emil Jones, would expanding gambling in Illinois to include three riverboat licenses for Waukegan, the south suburbs and an as-yet undetermined point within an eight-mile radius of O'Hare Airport. As part of......

Where to go Prom Dress Shopping?...

We at Chicagoist are suspending our policy of trying not to add more momentum to Rachael Ray's unstoppable takeover of the United States. (About the only thing that would kill it at this point would be a leaked Internet video involving sheep, salad tongs and some damn good reasons for that insidious grin.) Ms. Ray is hooking up with Delta Airlines in order to promote seven new daily flights between Midway Airport and LaGuardia, raising......

This isn't a local story, but nothing, and we mean nothing, can top the strange case of astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak. She was arrested Monday at Orlando International Airport after attacking Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, who she thought was trying to steal her would-be boyfriend and fellow astronaut, Cmdr. William Oefelein. Aren't astronauts supposed to be our best and brightest? This makes that episode of the Simpsons where Barney lays off the sauce and......

Riad Skaff, an employee at O'Hare International Airport has recently been taking lessons in how to be a good employee from Arenda Troutman; Skaff was charged yesterday by federal investigators with allowing the smuggling of money onto planes headed overseas. By law, travelers must declare how much money they are carrying, if they are taking more than $10,000 outside of the country. Skaff hooked a federal investigator up with a combined $396,000 in cash over......

Just in time for the holidays, O’Hare Airport announced a plan that will no longer require travelers to think ahead. Anyone who carries banned liquids or gels to the airport now has the option of mailing the items to an address or leaving them at the O’Hare Hilton. It costs ten bucks to leave your hair gel at the Hilton and $14 to send it home or to your destination via the U.S. Mail. What......

Chicagoist is a big fan of Richard Branson. He's the type of tycoon we would want to be if some obscure rich uncle became wormfood and left us a couple of billion dollars. He's been a busy guy, with his fingers in a lot of businesses, including entertainment, retail, and transportation. We're particularly a fan of his Virgin Galactic idea and we can't wait to buy tickets on a suborbital flight. We don't care......

A man sleeps pleasantly inside his home. Suddenly a phalanx of backhoes rumble toward his property. The man, discombobulated and outraged, takes action and tries to block the machines the only way he knows how. No, the story we describe isn't the beginning of Hitchhiker's Guide, but it's just as surreal. On Friday morning, Monee resident Mark Baugh was awoken by his wife when a crew of Illinois Department of Transportation workers showed up at......

Sometimes when we wake up and splay the Chicago newspapers across our desk, certain themes just pop out at us. We're like John Nash from A Beautiful Mind, circling headlines with markers and attaching connecting strings with masking tape and pushpins. In between the seasonal religious controversies and potential parking-dibs comment bait this morning, today's theme was guns: real ones, fakes ones, and illegal ones. While CBS 2 was still talking about the fallout from......

After years of trying to get some gates at O'Hare, JetBlue has finally gotten authorization for 4 daily departures. JetBlue has until the end of January to start flights out of O'Hare, and they're not yet sure where they'll be flying to. The reason JetBlue needed FAA approval is because of the cap put on flights out of O'Hare. They'd originally requested 8 flights/day but halved it last week and was approved. This is......

If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that stupid is an equal opportunity employer. Stupid doesn’t care how old you are, where you live or how much money is in your bank account. Stupid comes in all shapes and sizes. A 19-year-old French resident has been charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after telling security officers at O’Hare Airport what turned out to be a very bad joke. Lucas Garcia placed a “tightly wrapped” plastic bag......

Crain's Chicago Business is reporting that Mayor Daley's administration is following in the steps of Michael Bloomberg by trademarking various logos and insignia used by city departments: In May the city was granted a trademark for the Chicago Airport System logo worn by employees at O’Hare and Midway airports, which affirmed its exclusive right to emblazon the symbol on hats, T-shirts, neckties and even underwear. Other pending applications would trademark everything from Chicago Police......

Roger Ebert is recovering well from his recent surgery. Not exactly news to us, but you can spend less than $20 at Taste of Chicago and be quite satisfied. The village of Oak Park turned down a clothing store for plus-sized women, now they’re being sued. Jessa Crispin (a.k.a. “The Bookslut”) explains why summer can be rough for a book lover. O’Hare is on pace to reclaim the “World’s Busiest Airport” moniker. Barenboim and......

We've all been there - completely fucking wasted, wandering, drunk, not quite sure where we are. But usually we figure it out, come back to our senses, and get the hell out of dodge without incident. You know, unless the place we wandered drunkenly onto is a runway at Midway Airport. Then there's gonna be some hell to pay. Last weekend a "neighborhood man," who had to be shit-faced, wandered onto the airfield and caused......

Ready for a Silver Line? The CTA is chopping off the Cermak Branch from the Blue Line and will be calling it something else, tentatively the "Silver Line," starting this summer. It's hard to describe what they're doing with words, we've gotten all confused trying to figure it out, but we think we finally have this graphic right. So just look at it to see the changes. A key component of the change is......