Photo by Kudzuplanet I've had "Concrete and Clay" stuck in my head all damn day. Good thing it's so awesome. Illinois has seen fewer road fatalities this year than last. So far in 2008, there have been 484 traffic fatalities, which is about 100 fewer than over the same period last year. Finally, something good about high gas prices. [WBEZ] Jody Weis testified in front of City Council today. [Trib] A Red Line train......

People like JoeM500 don't need to worry about vehicle stickers this year, but the rest of us motorvatin' four-wheelin' city dwellers have just days to go until we're at risk of one of those $120 "You Forgot To Get Your Sticker" tickets. Did you get your reminder in the mail? Yeah, neither did we—and WBBM is reporting that we're not alone. The City Clerk’s office says the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side and......

Forget cars vs. bikes. I want a Scootacar. Like this one. Here it is in action.......

Photo by PhotoDu.de The average Chicago driver is in an accident every 7.6 years according to a new study from Allstate, which makes us the 176th safest. Out of 193. We're not the worst! We're not the worst! The safest "city" is Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where drivers are in accidents once every 14.6 years; the most dangerous driving is in DC, where drivers are in accidents every 5.4 years. Hilariously for anyone who's......

City Council's police and fire committee has proposed raising the fine for illegal tinted front windows to $250. It's currently $25, and given that the police issued 30,000 tickets last year for tinted windows, the higher fines could mean big bucks for the City. Tinted front windows (and windshields) are illegal because they pose a safety risk for police officers who need to be able to see into a car if they pull someone over.......

Yeargh, we wish organizations still had letterhead this pretty. Image from the Otis Historical Archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Click to embiggen. Instead, I just got a press release from Todd Stroger's assistant from what appears to be her personal AOL account. Don't eat tomatoes, BTW. From Neatorama and What Is It? comes this unusual, dime-size token (pictured, right). Any idea what it is? Scarlett Johansson and Barack Obama are e-mail......

The CPD has issued 101 warnings in two hours today to drivers who failed to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. An undercover officer tried to cross at Belmont and Lawndale in a sting operation to bust folks who don't yield to those of us on foot. The law requires drivers stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, even when there's no stop sign or traffic light, but not everyone is so into following that rule. The......

Over the past few months, the rising gas prices have been bumming us out. At first, we were just resigned to pay more to travel, but then the credit card bills arrived and the full scope of what we had done finally hit us square in the jaw. So, in order to avoid total insolvency, we’ve been looking hard for some alternatives. The CTA always beckons, but especially when we’re carrying full bags of......

Not only are local gas prices awful (averaging $4.19 per gallon), but apparently so are our drivers. In a recent national survey by GMAC insurance, Illinois ranked 32 of the 50 states, which is up 13 spots from last year. The survey tested drivers' knowledge of what to do when approaching a yellow light, how to drive in inclement weather, and proper following distance. GMAC estimates that if given a written driving test today, 33......

Mark your calendars, car folk: city stickers expire June 30. We know it sounds like a long time from now, but that's how procrastination gets ya. Plus it takes 10-14 days, so it's really not all that much time. Luckily, city clerk Miguel Del Valle has unveiled a new, fancier site where you can renew both your city sticker and your residential parking permit. City stickers cost $75 for regular cars, $120 for SUVs, and......

R.I.P., Berwyn “Spindle.” Photo by Paul Goyette. Grassroots activism lost to corporate America last night when the 50-foot Berwyn “Spindle,” an eight-car kobob, was dismantled under the cover of darkness. Cermak Plaza’s pop icon was taken down with a crane to make room for a proposed Walgreens. The “Spindle” was listed on eBay two weeks ago for $50,000, but no bids were placed, and activists were unable to raise the $300,000 estimated to restore......

Photo by Katherine of Chicago Items worth thousands of dollars were stolen from the South Side home where five people were murdered last week. A flat-screen TV, diamond jewelry, several watches and a pair of earrings are among the stolen items. So far, the police don't have any suspects. [Trib] Roscoe Mellencamp's DNA revealed he was the same cougar spotted in Wisconsin a few weeks ago and that he's genetically linked to a big......

Photo by Katie Scully Tiny critters have been clawing and chewing their way into cars across the region, some mechanics and car dealers are reporting. Squirrels, rats, mice, even woodchucks have been hanging out under car hoods, keeping warm and foraging for chow, even though wires aren't typically part of varmint diet. Mechanics find clues about the culprits under the hood. Squirrels leave nuts and branches. Rats might drop gnawed ribs or chicken wings.......

What kinds of cars do Chicagoans drive? Chevys, mostly. They're the most popular make registered in Illinois. The Sun-Times dug through the Secretary of State's data on vehicle registry (which includes makes but not models) and found some interesting info. They also made a pretty map (pdf). Mmmm, mappy. Actually, we prefer Globey. But to each her own. Some of the S-T's findings: In Cook County, every single ZIP code is dominated by one of......

Paul Tilley, 40, died Friday after jumping from a window the Fairmont hotel. His death has been ruled a suicide. Tilley was the managing director for creative at local ad agency powerhouse DDB, which is located in the Aon Center next to the Fairmont. Tilley was responsible for the "Dude, You're Getting a Dell" campaign and codeveloped McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" campaign, as well as overseeing the recent launch of Bud.tv. According to AdWeek, Tilley......

What's With the Two Inches?...

The Chicago Auto Show opens to the public tomorrow ($10 admission), and while the extent of our car knowledge--well, my car knowledge--comes from accidentally listening to a few minutes of Car Talk here and there, there is one vehicle that's currently blowing our minds: Ford's Alton F-650 XUV. That mofo has six wheels. Images via Autoblog's gallery, which is truly staggering. Christ, that car is ugly. But which Alton is more badass, that "XUV"? Or......

What's the best part about the Monday after the Super Bowl? Why it's heading into the office and listening to Mr. Hilarious Co-Worker re-enact all of his favorite Super Bowl ads of course. Or, if you're one of the many clients and advertising agencies involved in creating the ads, it's hoping that your expensive investment is loved by the game's 90 million viewers and even better- makes the top 10 in the annual USA Today......

Sad news today: Joseph Zeman, the "pigeon man of Lincoln Square," was killed yesterday when he was struck by a car on the Far North Side. The driver was a 68-year-old who didn't see Zeman as he made a right leaving a parking lot. The 77-year-old was easy to spot at the corner of Lawrence and Western, where he would sit for hours on a fire hydrant, feeding a large group of pigeons that......

This week looks to finally mark the beginning of winter around here, and while we're not huge fans of bulky sweaters, digging our out cars from under three feet of snow, and the unshakable common cold, we do love the feeling of coming out of the freeze and into our favorite cozy Chicago music venues. Ushering in wool sock weather this week are three very special rock shows: Oucho Sparks doesn't sleep, it waits. Three......

Chicagoist freely admits that most of our NASCAR knowledge comes from the movies including the 80's classic (we use that term loosely) "Stroker Ace", the recent animated film "Cars" and, of course, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". So we decided to do some research for this post and learned that Chicagoland Raceway is actually a perfect track for some fast shake and bake racing action. The Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5-mile, D-shaped tri-oval......

For those of you who work in the suburbs, this Chicagoist writer shares your pain. For those of you downtown, you might find this enlightening. Amusing, even. Brood update: the west suburbs (Oak Brook, Lombard, Elmhurst, Hinsdale and beyond) are under attack. They’re big. They’re black. They’re bumbling. And they’re EVERYWHERE. Packs, no, swarms of the red-eyed buggers are biz-izzing around, apparently with no sense of direction or sense of sight, really. They mill by......

Friday night, Chicagoist sat in the Kroc University Theater of the Adler Planetarium to hear Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" presentation given by someone with PhD style credibility, Dr. James Sweitzer. The majority of the presentation had the same slickness of Gore's documentary without the cut scenes of impending doom (though the excessive rumbling of traffic above the theater was slightly ominous). However, in lieu of soliloquies about being a boy on a farm,......

You know that extra car you have lying around? The one that only half works, requires lots of maintenance and doesn't get driven that often? Yeah, us neither (we rely on the lovely services of the CTA). But if we did, we would be pumped about an event that Zipcar is having next Monday, Feb. 26, at the Music Box Theatre called "Drive-In, Don't Drive Out." Drivers who bring in their old Pintos, Yugos and......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading......

There's hardly anything worse than coming out of a building to find your car ... gone. At first panicked flush, there's the thought — stolen? But if you're anything like we are, and you've never owned anything in the realm of new, the next thought is — where's the sign? The hydrant? The yellow curb? How could I possibly have screwed this up!? Get ready, folks. Friday marks meteorological winter, which brings the overnight winter......

Now we’re not a betting blog, but we are pretty certain that nearly every person in this country has seen a cartoon. We watched it all: Disney movies, WB cartoons—heck, we even read some in the paper. During all this cartoon consumption, we saw pretty much every violent way you could maim someone. Anvils, cliffs, electric eels, or even with sticks of dynamite, (of course). And, remarkably, never once did we think we could smite......

We here at Chicagoist sometimes get caught up in the latest, fastest and shiniest things, but every once in a while it's good to remember that there are old standbys that deserve our attention as well. Ravinia Festival released their summer schedule and from the CSO to jazz to blues, country and rock there is most definitely something for everyone. It's always nice to head out of the city with a picnic basket and a......

Is there a bigger double-edged sword in any live music scene than the cover band and its fraternal twin, the tribute band? You could decide to form Safety Dancers: A Tribute To Men Without Hats and though you’d still have a built-in audience most clubs (at least the ones that don’t feature a “quarter draft night”) would be reluctant to book you because no matter how hard you work you’ll still be derisively referred to......