The State of Illinois has many duties, but perhaps their most interesting one is getting to open forgotten safe deposits boxes. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ office is in charge of the procedure and this past year ending in June, they inventoried 5,142 new boxes. Fortunately, 1,476 of those boxes were returned to their rightful owner. When they’ve been untouched for five years, banks turn over boxes to the state, and the names of box-holders are published in newspapers. more ›

Remember all the fuss about the Beanie Baby dolls that totally were not the Obama girls? Well, one can only hope there will be less fuss about the marketing of a new Obama doll: that of new First Puppy Bo. more ›

Ty Warner, the man in charge of the Beanie Baby empire, has bought the two-story, 10,000 square foot penthouse that will sit atop the Chicago Spire, giving him a 360-degree view of the city; it will be the highest residential unit IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. While the asking was price was $40 million, it's not immediately known what Warner shelled out for his new digs. That's a hell of a lot of storage space for those damn toys. We wonder if he'll spend his time sitting on his deck, tossing random beanie babies off the side at unsuspecting pedestrians below. As for the Spire itself, more than 30 percent of the units have been sold and is still on schedule to be completed in 2012. more ›