Construction work on the Blue Line tracks between the Rosemont station and O’Hare is wrapping up four days early, with CTA service expected to be restored tomorrow morning at 3 a.m. Repairs to deteriorating rails, tie plates and spikes will eliminate the 15 m.p.h. slow zones on that particular stretch of track, now giving trains the capacity to travel at speeds up to 55 m.p.h. “With the completion of this work, we now have reduced......

We mentioned it a few weeks ago, but in case you've forgotten or missed it in the first place, the CTA is shutting down the Blue Line between O'Hare and Rosemont to continue work on slow zone elimination. The shut down begins at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and runs until 3 a.m. Monday, July 28. Shuttle buses will run between O'Hare and Rosemont 24 hours a day until work is completed, so be sure to......

We've whined and moaned about the constant shut downs of CTA lines over the last several months, but now we feel our gripes are somewhat legitimate. Whereas previous blue line shutdowns have occurred during late night hours on weekends, a new closure between O'Hare and Rosemont will occur July 8 and last three weeks. The CTA will provide 24-hour shuttle bus to connect between the stations in lieu of the trains. Blergh. Says CTA......

Photo by Brian Hagy CTA President Ron Huberman has a plan to right the wrong that is the Block 37 CTA not-at-all-super-station mess: Private investment. Ayeee. From the CTA's press release: "I have carefully read the business case for airport service and believe that a premium service built and operated in conjunction with a private sector partner is the way to go," said Huberman. "To replicate the success of premium service in other major......

In what is now a weekly right of passage, the CTA is doing all kinds of stuff to the train lines this weekend. Which is fine, because there's really not much going on this weekend besides all the street fests, Blues Fest, Printers Row Book Fair, the Sox home games, and all the tourists in town. We know it's all for the greater good and many of the reroutes are during off-peak hours, but that......

Photo by Efroten The CTA has released its Mystery Shopper reports (recall the mystery shopping program), and apparently the rest of the city rides the Heaven Express down Miracle Drive, direct from Unicorn Town. For buses: 77.9 percent were "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied" with bus cleanliness, and 78.5 percent reported timely service. For trains: 76.4 percent were "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied" with the cleanliness of the rail system, 79.1 percent reported timely rail service,......

Despite this week's news that the work on the Fullerton and Belmont stops will be finished ahead of schedule, we're still drinking the CTA flavor Haterade. Honestly, we've given up taking the El on weekends. With slow zones, closures and reroutes, not to mention the ongoing Brown Line construction/clusterfuck, it's easier in this beautiful weather to just walk or ride our bikes (always wear a helmet!). With lots of people traveling and making their way......

We'll still have to wait awhile for Chicago's new Trader Vic's, but in the meanwhile Tiki Terrace has now reopened for business and is ready to hula. And we mean that literally: the Hanalei Revue, every Saturday night, and the Ports of Paradise review on Fridays both feature plenty of dancing and other island-style entertainment. The Zuziak Brothers opened the original Tiki Terrace in 2005, but its Prospect Heights location meant you were plum......

Fallout from Tuesday's Blue Line fiasco continues as the CTA investigates what exactly went wrong. And the CTA employee who yelled at passengers and called them "stupid" is facing disciplinary action. (Boy are we glad we don't get in trouble for calling CTA passengers stupid. Because lord, we have seen some stupid shit on the CTA. Like the lady on the El with a mug of coffee—not a travel mug, just a regular mug with......

Mayor Daley introduced an ordinance today that would change the cab fare formula to be more fluid, thus accomodating changes in the cost of gas. [Trib] The CTA is cutting the 54th/Cermak branch of the Blue Line due to low ridership. [S-T] A woman in Kansas sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years. [AP] Southwest Airlines is grounding 44 of its planes after an FAA fine of $10.2 million for not having the jets......

If the RTA extended the Blue Line out to the Yorktown Mall in Lombard, would you go? The Sun-Times reported yesterday that possible improvements to the city's transit system could include a longer trek on the Forest Park line, new bus routes on major expressways, and a north-south train between Midway and O'hare, among other things. But did you know that the CTA used to run all the way out to Aurora? It did...kinda. It......

Anyone else spot this TV on the Blue Line this morning? Katie Scully writes it "appeared to be riding alone."......

At a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Scholarship Breakfast this morning, Governor Blagojevich gave a three-minute speech, and included this charming verse, aimed at the seniors in the audience. There were some dark clouds hovering over the CTA. But those dark clouds have rolled away. Now the sun is gonna shine So you can get on the blue line, the brown line, the red line. And everything will be just fine. [Trib]......

Illinois state legislators are at it again today, after yesterday's close-but-no-cigar attempts to resolve the transit funding crisis. The House passed a sales-tax increase plan yesterday, but it fell one vote sort in the Senate; those so-and-sos are going to give it another go today because three of them abstained (courteously?) yesterday. That bill would raise the sales tax in Cook by a quarter percentage point and by a half-percentage point in the five......

After a week of having holiday music stuck in our head, we need to laugh. Luckily, there are plenty of comedy shows this weekend... The Bicycle Men are back in Chicago, presenting a loving tribute to “le bicyclette” and a tribute of sorts to all things French. Dan Castellaneta joins the cast as American tourist Steve, lost in a sea of nutty Frenchmen performing dirty puppet shows and an “unauthorized” talent show, among other things.......

Here's hoping everyone's having a happy Thanksgiving. And here's some more things we're giving thanks for today: I am thankful for Chicago sports fans, that they sell out the United Center even when the Bulls suck, that they were still wearing Grossman's jersey when Griese was starting. -- Elizabeth Hyde Park in the snow when it's silent outside at night, Seminary Co-Op bookstore, Margarita special night[s] at Tecalitlan, the elimination of the Blue Line......

Many Wicker Park commuters are feeling a little less caffeinated these days since Half & Half (under the Damen Blue Line stop) closed up shop. Owner Debbie Sharpe told Metromix that the quality of the building is to blame. The good news is Sharpe also owns the Goddess and Grocer down the street, and Half & Half's delicious commuter sandwiches and pastries will be available for purchase there. LTH commentors prophecy its space may become......

If you're in Greektown this morning and see a bunch of people milling about at the Halsted/UIC Blue Line station, just go about your normal business. Those folks are from the Think Outside the Bottle campaign staging a protest demanding that Coca-Cola reveal the sources it uses for its Dasani brand bottled water. Bottled water has come under intense scrutiny lately, from a proposed tax on bottled water by City Council being considered to bridge......

ORD Terminal Mystery?...

Flickr user todd.burbo titled this nicely focused spider shot, "Home Security System." Up here in Lakeview, our home has recently been under siege by the little eight-legged buggers that haunt our dreams, almost discouraging us from hanging out in the house. Maybe it's just our perception, but once we're deterred from being at home, that's a security system gone too far. We're sure our spider fear can be chalked up to a combination of......

Wednesday, some of you were upset at the thought of a short-term solution to the CTA's ongoing budget crisis. We were upset at the thought of bus lines being cut, fares being raised and people losing their jobs just because the legislature couldn't give the transit budget deficit one more serious consideration. We said we think it would be a good idea for the CTA to take the $24 million dollars that the governor offered......

SHOOTING: Two homeless men shot in a 24 hour span in Uptown -- they appear to be unrelated. In more shooting news (why is there so much?!): Police have two "persons of interest" in custody Sunday morning after two teenagers were shot in a playlot on the South Side in the Woodlawn neighborhood, blocks from the University of Chicago campus. TRAINS: Our dear friend warns us: This is why you NEVER put headphones in......

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, it's morning in Chicago, but not for long. The storms that wreaked havoc throughout the area are a faint memory, and we're left to clean up the mess as we wait for more storms to come today. The north and northwest sides of the city felt the brunt of the storm, with reports of trees being split by the high winds. Over 300,000 businesses and residents were left without electricity......

Here are some other news items of note while we're at Millennium Park enjoying Muhal Richard Abrams and Reginald Robinson: The U.S. attorney's office has joined an ongoing Cook County probe into the rogue actions of an elite squad of the Chicago Police Department . Blue Line passengers can expect (more) delays starting this weekend. The sculptor who created Berwyn's spindle claims that the shopping plaza where it sits is "prostituting" the sculpture under......

Ever since Frank Kruesi got kicked to the curb back in April, we’ve been nothing short of elated. We looked forward to a new reign of … whatever the opposite of ineptitude is. (Eptitude?) With time comes sobriety, as the usual problems have started cropping up once more. Two trains shutting down in one week? Bad form. Honestly, though, we weren’t expecting that kind of mechanical stuff to be cleared up overnight, especially when the......

We aren't naive. We know the police protect and serve, that it's a largely thankless task, and recognize their achievements when we can. Overall, though, this hasn't been a good year for the Chicago Police Department, public relations-wise. So if there were a list of the bad seeds in existence, wouldn't you want to know the names? Wouldn't you know who's out there perverting their oath to protect and serve? Judge Joan Lefkow thinks so.......

We entered the Pitchfork Music Festival grounds a little late Saturday, since the CTA saw fit to make sure all the buses we needed to take were running extra slow, while suspending Blue Line service between Western and Clark/State. They picked a bang-up weekend to make sure they removed the primary vein of public travel right from the heart of the hipster corridor. As we arrived though, we were dually serenaded by the noise of......

First we learned about Spoon's free show at Schubas this Friday, scheduled conveniently after Sonic Youth clears the stage at Pitchfork. Tickets are ambiguously hard to obtain, as they're only being given away via drawing from Schubas, Reckless Records or from WXRT. We were annoyed when we heard this, as we don't like jumping through hoops to get into a show. Call us old, but if we can't just obtain tickets through traditional means, we're......

The second of four public comment sessions is tonight regarding a possible fare hike/restructuring and service cuts if the CTA doesn't get funding from the state. We've been told by our faithful readers that we should (all of us?) stop bitching and do something about this. This is one of the things we can actively do. We'll be there tonight, just as we were at the last round of comment sessions regarding the three-track blah......

Here we go again. Another cute and trendy breakfast/lunch/brunch spot in the Logan Square/Bucktown corridor serving some good, but also some majorly mediocre food. Before we get too down on the newly opened Vella Cafe, however, let’s make one thing clear: the one-room eatery under the Blue Line Station at Western just opened a mere couple of weeks ago, so there are some obvious kinks in service and stock to work out. We just......