(Ed. Note: Over the next two weeks we'll be recapping the newsworthy events we believed made the biggest headlines over the past 12 months. Today, we start with the Blizzaster of 2011. — CS) more ›

In this video from Coudal Partners, crossing Racine Avenue becomes an epic journey. more ›

Two openings in the median at Armitage Avenue and Schiller Street are being installed, using movable concrete barriers to provide emergency-only turnaround access to the Drive's northbound and southbound lanes. more ›

Looks like the letter Gov. Quinn wrote to President Obama earlier this month to declare Illinois a federal disaster area in the wake of February's blizzard was persuasive. That's exactly what Obama did yesterday. Well, parts of the state at least. more ›

From the "strike while the iron's hot" department: Cran's is reporting that Gov. Quinn sent a formal request to President Obama to have 60 counties in Illinois declared federal disaster areas as a result of last month's Blizzaster and, thus, qualify for disaster relief funding if approved. more ›

The melting snow reveals a lot of things that were hidden. But a woman missing since late December? That's what happened when a Union Pacific rail employee discovered the body of Jeanne Pike near the railroad tracks in Winthrop Harbor this morning. The 60-year-old Pike was reported missing on Dec. 21. At the time she was reported missing, police searched the area, which was covered in snow, but found no trace of her. The Union Pacific employee found her under a tree, partially covered in snow. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of Pike's death. more ›

The Streets and Sanintation Department has issued a passive reminder that, with the remnants of the Blizzard of 2011 fast melting, it's time to get the lawn chairs, milk crates and other trash we're using to save our parking spaces off the street. more ›

The city may have abolished the Hired Truck Program six years ago, but its legacy will always be invoked every time something happens to remind us of it. Events like, oh, Blizzaster 2011. The Sun-Times reports that three companies with ties to the Hired Truck Scandal were among those receiving the $8 million in emergency snow removal contracts that were doled out by the city. more ›

Sure, the thaw that's expected to hit the area may make clearing the sidewalks a moot point this weekend, but it's still a violation of city law not to shovel your sidewalks and walkways. As our former "Ask Chicagoist" columnist Thales Exoo pointed out a few years back, section 10--8-180 of the city Municipal Code states: more ›

This video has been making the rounds the past few days. David Welles has a nice setup of security cameras around his home. Last Wednesday, those cameras caught a woman stealing his snow shovel to shovel out her car. The Next day, Welles proved the maxim "Payback is a bitch" (or "This guy's a dick," if you prefer) by using his snowblower to cover the shovel thief's car in snow. more ›

We've showed you photographs of City Methodist Church in Gary, IN before, but in a more palatable climate. Photographer David Tribby, whose photographs were the basis for the earlier look into Gary's urban flight and decay, shared two photos of City Methodist Church with us after last week's blizzard. more ›

We wanted to place a reminder to those of you who weren't around to read the site over the weekend to bring quarters and feed those parking fare boxes if you're downtown today. As Soyoung pointed out Saturday, the city will resume parking ticket enforcement for the downtown Central Business District at 9 a.m. The city will enforce parking tickets across the rest of the city at 9 a.m. tomorrow. There is no more blaming the snow. more ›

Today in "Extra Extra:" where does all the snow go? Also, own the ultimate tailgating machine. more ›

Chair Free Chicago (remember them) announced this morning they were organizing a "shovel out" in Bridgeport in an attempt to advocate helping each other dig out from the Blizzaster and promote their dibs-free mission. more ›

We know that the dibs system here in Chicago has stayed the same for decades and regardless of how you feel about marking that space you spent all day digging out, city officials are okay with dibs, for now at least. The Tribune reports Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne saying of dibs, “At this moment, that's a thing they're (residents) doing and they're trying to save what they dug out and we're not going to take a position on that.” more ›

Throughout the blizzaster, Rick Bayless was like a lighthouse in the storm. He kept his restaurants open, tweeting that anyone trapped downtown was welcome. In addition, he may be the only celebrity chef in history to brag about the accomplishments of his valet parking crew (Grover and Luis) - wonderful to give credit to everyone. And boy, do they deserve it! The valet parking crew created the official snowman, or "Blizzard 2011 mascot," for Frontera. Check after the jump for some great tweets. more ›

The immediate response to Lake Shore Drive aside, the city has actually done a good job of snow removal during this week's blizzard. As the days pass, residents throughout Chicago are starting to adopt a "what have you done for me lately" approach towards clearing the side streets and especially the 2,000 miles of alleys. I took the above photo of the scene in the alley behind my apartment building an hour ago. That's a six-foot high wall of snow created by neighbors whose immediate focus was getting the area around their garages cleared. more ›

In the wake of this week's blizzard, a number of family pets have been lost around the city. But a German Shepherd that broke loose during the storm in Chicago Heights has been rescued by volunteers at the South Suburban Humane Society. more ›

Nothing like a snowstorm to make the week fly by, don't you think. The weather itself is going to stabilize a bit today. Oh, it's still brass bra cold outside, with a projected high of 24 degrees. But the sun will be out, which will help melt some of this ca-ca around the city. And the alley behind our apartment building could use some of that sun; there's a seven-foot high wall of snow in the middle of it that needs to be removed. Don't get used to the sunshine, though. Accuweather calls for another 4-1/2 inches of snow on the way. more ›

Today in "Extra Extra:" CPS students' Blizzaster vacation ends today. more ›

You know now how Benjy fared in the blizzard. I was in the middle of a surprisingly packed house at The Beer Bistro holding an impromptu "Screw the Blizzard" tweetup Tuesday night, part of me ruing that I chose to go out instead of sit at home and watch the snow pile up with my dog. When word came yesterday morning that a couple of folks on staff had no power or access to internet, I knew it was going to be a long day. more ›

I managed to make my way downtown and back yesterday while most of the city collectively huddled under their quilt. If you've ever been in the Loop on a major holiday like Christmas Day you know how eerie and silent it can be down there when there's a near-total absence of humanity. That's what it was like yesterday, and the scene on trains and buses (at least from my anecdotal experience) was similarly vacant, and I have to add, pretty smoothly run. I did have to trudge over to Western to shuffle onto a Brown line, but when I got on there, it was fairly smooth sailing all the way to the Loop and back even as the storm refused to slow. more ›

Mayor Daley's press conference addressing the blizzard cleanup ended 40 minutes ago and, depending on where you fall on the May Day love/hate spectrum, either he answered the pertinent questions as to why he was wasn't seen yesterday, or his answers just served to piss you off further. We also learned that His elective Majesty is a delegator, that the city department heads speak for him, the lakefront needs a breakwater from Diversey to Oak Street to protect the waves from hitting Lake Shore Drive, and that the airlines can say "no" to him when he wants to arrange a meeting. It's also going to be an interesting final four months of his mayoralty. We watched the press conference and compiled some of his better quotes. more ›

Mayor Daley is leaving the steaming comfort of his tauntaun's innards to hold an 11 a.m. press conference where he'll answer questions about the city's response to Tuesday night's snowstorm, why Lake Shore Drive remained open and where he was. Should be fun. more ›

The cleanup from the Blizzard of 2011 continues. Lake Shore Drive, which had 239 cars still stranded on it as of 5 p.m. yesterday, is now cleared and open to traffic. Motorists who had to strand their cars on Lake Shore Drive during the height of the storm Tuesday night should call 311 to find the location of their vehicles. The city's Streets and Sanitation department towed all vehicles to parking lots near the Drive at Wells, Chicago, Belmont, Wilson, Foster and Soldier Field. The city has set up a database so motorists can find their cars. Security details have been set up at each lot to help ensure that no one's coming to jack your car. Since these towings were weather-related emergencies, motorists stranded on Lake Shore Drive will not be charged for them. more ›