You know Emanuel wasn't going to let the moment pass without looking back at what his administration has achieved since he took office. Hell, he graded himself on his first 30 days in office. more ›

The numbers that have analysts talking about the Groupon IPO isn't the $750 million it expects to raise, but the losses they've posted thus far. more ›

Ever since Perry's Stage debuted in 2008, we've closely monitored its progress. What began as a tiny stage featuring mostly unknown DJs and a few dozen people has blossomed into a spectacle of major names in electronic dance music and a new staging area that will support 15,000 Lollapalooza attendees this year. Needless to say, it's the fastest growing segment of the festival, as thousands of young partygoers opt to spend entire days at Perry's Stage, where they can dance their little hearts away. And while this growth is indicative of electronic dance music's broadened appeal over the past few years (specifically after the electro boom of 2007-2008), what has this rapid expansion done to the integrity of the lineup at Perry's? If 2009 was its flagship year, what does it say to have largely the same style of acts (even the same acts) from a segment of music culture that is so incredibly diverse and changes as fast as the seasons do? more ›

In the end, it was no contest. ABC7's Ron Magers said it best when he said, "We barely had time to catch our breaths, when it was over." more ›

Before we start the turn into "Extra Extra," we want to remind you that we'll be here tonight starting at 9 p.m. for our Election Night coverage, updating results in real time as we get them. Tomorrow at 11 a.m. we'll have a post-election live chat with Andy Shaw, Esther J. Cepeda, Mario Smith, Ald. Ed Bus and our own Kevin Robinson. more ›

Almost as soon as Jay Cutler was bulled from yesterday's NFC Championship game with what the Bears termed as a knee injury, criticism against the quarterback began, with fans and former players alike echoing the sentiment that Cutler should have stayed in the game. Criticism by former players was especially harsh. Yahoo Sports' Doug Farrar rounded up the opinions of Cutler's NFL contemporaries. To a man, they all seemed to agree that Cutler quit on the Bears, with the most pointed criticisms coming from Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew. Pundits such as ESPN's Michael Wilbon also saw the tweets from other players and opined that they only reinforced what players already thought of Cutler, pre-injury. more ›

A lot of hay has been made in the press about the recent tax increase in Illinois, especially from our neighbors to the North in Wisconsin, where the newly-elected governor is anxious to prove that the taxing ways of Illinois Democrats will lead to our state's demise. Even Indiana's gotten into the act, with the mayor of Indianapolis running full page ads in the Chicago Tribune and the Peoria Star Journal encouraging businesses to relocate East to take advantage of what's advertised as a more favorable tax rate. Illinois's elected officials haven't helped the situation, either, passing the tax increase without doing much to frame the issue. more ›

President Obama dug deep into his considerable oratorical skills at last night's memorial service for the dead and wounded at last weekend's shooting in Arizona. It was a passionate speech from a man not necessarily known for sentimentality. In Obama's delivery and willingness to be the adult in the room after a week's worth of news cycle chatter about whether rhetoric was to blame for the shooting, the speech reminded us of Obama's 2008 Philadelphia speech on race. As with that speech, last night's address was the right speech at the right time and may go down as a defining moment for Obama, in that he was speaking not only as President, but a husband and father. more ›

President Obama has called for a National Moment of Silence at 10 a.m. to honor Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the six people who were killed and those injured when 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on an appearance the Arizona Democrat had scheduled in Tucson, AZ Saturday. Giffords remains in a medically induced coma while her brain heals from the gunshot wound and subsequent surgery. more ›

Having wrapped up the second seed in the NFC playoffs, the Bears could have played safe yesterday and rested their starters to keep everybody healthy for the postseason. Instead, trying to keep the Packers out of the playoffs was apparently incentive enough for Lovie Smith to decide to go with his starters for the entire game. Even so, the Bears fell to Green Bay 10-3 at Lambeau Field, finishing their season with an 11-5 mark. more ›

Another interesting article in today's Tribune from transportation columnist John Hilkevitch. This one looks at how CTA bridge spans, particularly on the northern reaches of the Red Line, have long exceeded their lifespan thanks in large part to the lower payload that the "L" cars carry (these bridges were originally built to handle steam rail). more ›

Publisher CQ Press released its list of the most dangerous cities in America and — shock of shocks — Chicago is nowhere to be found on the list. We had to double check that list ourselves. Surely, Police Superintendent Jody Weis, if he's aware of the list, is saying "I told you so" right now. more ›

We typically wait until the Bears season is halfway finished to recap where they're at, but after playing seven games before hitting their bye week we thought we'd take advantage of the downtime to look back on the season so far. more ›

In Illinois, the GOP picked up 11 House seats and the Senate seat formerly held by President Obama. Three of those were extremely tight races, with wins in single digit margins. Mark Kirk won over Alexi Giannoulis by under 2 percentage points, while nearly 6% of the vote went to independent candidates. While Bill Brady won't concede the race for governor, it looks like incumbent Pat Quinn will remain governor by a razor thin margin. more ›

It was nearly 1 a.m when Pat Quinn addressed his supporters at the Hotel Allegro when he pulled out a campaign button he bought as a teenager to support the Presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy fifty years ago in Westmont. "Kennedy won Illinois that year by 8,000 votes," Quinn reminisced, drawing a parallel between Kennedy's margin of victory and his own current gossamer-thin lead over Bill Brady in the race for Governor. more ›

For me, like many voters that tend to punch the Democratic button in the ballot booth, this election is a shock, even if we saw the train wreck coming months in advance. I remember being in Washington, D.C. on election night 2008, when a spontaneous demonstration of Obama supporters broke out in front of the White House, when I heard people running through the streets of DuPont Circle shrieking and yelling in elation. I remember thinking that, like we still talk about "Reagan Democrats," we might soon be talking about "Obama Republicans." Like some of the president's advisers, I think I underestimated the newly-minted minority party, and overestimated the Democrats in congress. more ›

Losing the 2016 Summer Olympic bid was shocking enough to many Chicagoans; coming in last place was a blow to the ego of a city with a chip on its big shoulders. After two years of wrangling, six months of hype, arm-twisting in the city council and literally millions of dollars in private contributions to pull the bid off, Mayor Daley is coming back to Chicago empty handed, and many people (including those inside City Hall) are asking what went wrong. more ›

The news hit Chicago hard today, as the IOC announced that the City by the Lake would not be hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. Even more shocking, the city did not make it past the first round of voting. Mayor Daley's admonitions that the games are the best economic engine that the city has will be tested in the coming years, and an increasingly frustrated and angry electorate will be looking for leadership out of the financial and political swamp they've been dragged into. more ›