• Sen. Burris' explanation for that phone call with Rob Blagojevich? It was all a ruse.
• President Obama has nominated retired Chicago investment banker Louis Susman to be ambassador to Britain.
• As if the City Council didn't have enough to worry about today, aldermen are now complaining about fees to Noelle Brennan, the federal hiring monitor who has come down hard on City Hall's hiring abuses.

No, we're not turning into CuteOverload, but with all the depressing news this week, we thought we'd celebrate a little bit of good news. Visitors to Brookfield Zoo will finally be able to catch a peek at the new southern hairy-nosed wombat joey that was born last July to the zoo's eight-year-old wombat, Kambora. The joey has started venturing outside her mother's pouch more and more recently as at about nine months, joeys leave the pouch permanently. more ›

In case you've ever wondered what things are like around the Chicagoist office, this 6-year-old has perfectly recreated the brainstorming process our "beloved" Editor-in-Chief Marcus Gilmer goes through every morning when putting together the daily editorial schedule. (And he wonders why he's single...) [via BoingBoing] more ›

Let's start with the bad news. Like your ever-shrinking 401(k), the Lincoln Park Zoo's endowment fund took a significant hit last year -- a whopping $7.6 million in total. The bad loss is forcing the zoo to trim $1 million from its annual budget, which will include cutting programs and laying off staff. The positions the zoo is looking at getting rid of "will involve staffers working in animal care and welfare... but they also will touch on other zoo operations, such as concessions, grounds, administration, education and conservation." Zoo president Kevin Bell has pledged to take at least a 10% cut in his $352,500 salary -- we hope Bell can tighten his belt enough to get by in this day and age on only $300k. more ›