Six people were shot on the south side, a woman's body was found in the snow in Chicago Heights, and other weekend news. more ›

Are you crazy about corned beef? Hankerin' for some challah? Why go all the way to New York for a bite of the Big Apple when Bergstein's NY Deli Truck can bring it to you? Sure, there are several excellent New York style delis here in the Windy City. This one, however, rolls on four wheels and makes its rounds of the downtown. With a traditional menu and taste to match, you'll feel like you are on the streets of old Manhattan in no time. more ›

Haley Pelock, 19, of Chicago Heights was shot dead on Friday night inside a Chicago Heights home. She was believed to be home for Spring Break from college. As of late Saturday, police were questioning a person of interest. An autopsy of Pelock determined that she died of a gunshot wound to the chest. Her death was ruled to be a homicide. more ›

While there were many dull-as-dishwasher classics forced upon on us during high school English (we're looking at you, An American Tragedy) Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio was decidedly not one of them. We loved it the first time we read it, and we've returned to it again and again. Though perhaps not as revered today as William Faulkner or Ernest Hemingway, both of who were briefly mentored by him, Anderson uses a straightforward, naturalistic prose style that's still quite engaging. more ›

The state House was in major "TCB" mode yesterday. In addition to approving the civil unions bill and allowing for a gas plant to be built on the Southeast side, they voted in favor of reforms to police and fire department pensions. By a 95-18 margin, the House voted to raise the retirement age to receive a full pension from 50 to 55; addresses the issue of giving end-of-career retirement bonuses that boost retirement benefits, but only for new hires; and limits payouts by setting a ceiling of $106,800 on which a person's pension can be based. more ›

You would think that, after the shit storm that rained on Mayor Daley's head once the details of the parking meter privatization came out, he'd give up the privatizing ghost and count down the days until next May. more ›

Even Catholic schools are feeling the pinch in these troubled economic times, and one Chicago Heights high school is playing hardball in order to pay the bills. Marian Catholic High School yanked 300 students out of their classrooms on Monday because their parents owed between $750 and $5,000 in tuition bills, turning the school office into a chaotic frenzy. While many parents were able to quickly straighten things out, approximately 100 kids were sent home and told not to come back until their tuition had been paid in full. The school said that a notice went out last week warning parents of the intended drastic action. more ›

If you like smoking grass, Chicago Heights is your place to be. The south suburb's city council used its home rule authority to puff-puff-pass an ordinance that says anyone caught with 30 grams or less of marijuana will only be ticketed instead of facing criminal charges.

City attorney TJ Somer said addressing such offenses as ordinance violations rather than crimes helps "unclog" the criminal justice system while providing extra revenue for the city. That's because the city doesn't have to share revenue from fines with the Cook County Circuit Court system.

It wasn't all about roasting pigs out in the 'burbs this week: more ›

On a weekend where gratefulness is foremost on our minds, it’s unfortunate that crime keeps moving forward. We’ll lead off with one story for which we can be thankful is not all bad news:Remember Nicolas Orbovich, the concert violist whose 1892 instrument worth $100,000 was stolen from the back seat of his unlocked car in a Michigan City, Indiana, Wal-Mart parking lot? It’s been found, with the help of Lake Station, Indiana, pawn shop, Orbovich’s... more ›

Is it just us, or does it seem like there's been a huge increase in the number of missing persons stories? This can't all be the Sun-Times' doing, right? A Chicago Heights woman has been missing since Sunday afternoon. Alma Mendez went jogging in the forest preserve in South Chicago Heights and hasn't been heard from since. The Southtown says Mendez is 5 foot 4, but the Trib says she's 4 foot 11. If you've... more ›

A couple years back we had a Chicagoist alum who chronicled his attempts to grow his own tomatoes from seeds. If you click those links, you'll notice that he wasn't very successful. Now, we have something of a green thumb. Our apartment is full of various ficuses, cacti, African violets, rhododendron, split leaf philodendron and other plants we've been tending for a friend for so long, they now qualify as ours. Still, we were hesitant... more ›

Saturday the sun and heat agreed with Chicagoist. So we saddled up on our seven-year-old Schwinn Mesa GS and beat a straight line north on Halsted to the Lincoln Park farmers market. We just had some chicken butchered for us at Chicago Live Poultry House in Little Village, and had some ideas of how we wanted to prepare the cuts. more ›

Chicagoist: Peeking into the minds of the mad, the dangerous and the just plain stupid. more ›

The Trib has launched a new local portal for suburban news that will rely on "citizen journalism." Huh? Oh, you mean blogging? Abbot Labs is being sued over its arthritis drug, Humira. NYU and Johnson & Johnson have a competing drug and is accusing them of patent infringement. The 2007 World Boxing Championships will probably happen in Chicago. A woman walking her dog found the body of a dead 15-year-old boy in Chicago Heights.... more ›

After months of speculation that the Cubs might be put up for sale as part of a restructuring or sale of Tribune Co., almost immediately after the board's approval of Chicago billionaire Sam Zell's offer, news came that the team would in fact be sold. Now the handicapping can begin on who the new owner will be. There has certainly been no shortage of potential bidders mentioned. Of course, that was before the Cubs went... more ›

Ok, let's get the story straight ... or at least we'll try. more ›

Surprisingly little St. Patty's related fare for the blotter this weekend. Hooray! more ›

There's been a lot of food news that crossed our radar this week. Here are a few of the stories we didn't snark on, until today. Kraft Foods, You've Been Served: The legal team at Kraft Foods is going to be mighty busy in the upcoming year, if they keep getting sued at this rate. Earlier this week, a Florida woman sued Kraft for claiming that their "all natural" Capri Sun juice drinks are really... more ›

A sense of entitlement abounds this week, as Chicagoland residents defended their rights to pee on the floor at weddings, to expect courtesy from the mailman, to board airplanes without a ticket, to teach neighbors a lesson by planting drugs on their teenage sons, and to smoke crack in the comfort of their own cars: Last Saturday, two men attacked an off-duty police officer who was working security at a wedding after he confronted one... more ›

A favorite theory of many JFK assassination buffs is that the mob, led by Chicago boss Sam Giancana (pictured right), ordered a hit on the president as payback for double-crossing them after they helped him win the 1960 presidential election. When Kennedy won Illinois, many Richard Nixon supporters claimed that then-Mayor Richard J. Daley's political machine in Chicago had fixed the city election, thus helping Kennedy carry the state. But others, most notably investigative reporter... more ›

The latest filmed-in-Chicago movie hits theaters this weekend when Roll Bounce arrives this Friday. Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr., who brought Barbershop to the screen and more film dollars to the South Side, produced the film. Like that film and its spinoffs, Roll Bounce’s charm comes from its characters, not a wholly original plot. X (played by Bow Wow) and his crew are the kings of the Palisades Garden roller rink on the... more ›

Velton Lacefield-Cole, a professor at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, was shot dead last night in her South-Suburban home. Her estranged husband, Anthony E. Cole, allegedly killed her before turning the gun on himself, leaving their bodies to be discovered by Lacefield-Cole's 11-year-old son. Willie Cole, Anthony's brother, tells the Trib: "Initially, the thought that my brother did it is hard to believe. That's not the kind of person he is." This guy... more ›

Last week a 4-year-old boy found 40 bags of crack in his knapsack and brought it to school, thinking it was candy. 40 bags.. why, that's just enough to hand one out to every kid in his 1st grade Chicago Heights class during recess. Rock candy for everyone! more ›

We wanted to keep today's post warm and fuzzy, but then we stumbled upon a story about Randy Washington. According to the FBI, on Sept. 24 a couple of disc jockeys at Chicago radio station KISS-103.5 asked listeners to call in and tell stories about crimes they'd committed without being caught. A man called in and told the story of a bank he and five others robbed with assistance from one of the bank's employees.... more ›

Sure, it's been a while since the Bears played in the Super Bowl, but that doesn't mean that there are no Chicago ties to this year's big game. When the Philadelphia Eagles take on the New England Patriots (the ones the Bears beat 46-10 in Super Bowl XX), there will be plenty of locally grown players as well as a number of former Bears. more ›

Chicagoist remembers being at that awkward age where you’re too old to go trick-or-treating (without getting shitty looks from your neighbors) and too young to hit the bars. So to fill that void we’d rent scary movies. So a quick word to anyone who’s made that their plan this year: get your ass to the store today! If you show up on Saturday night, don’t expect them to have anything else but crappy sequels like Halloween 3, Nightmare on Elm Street 5, and The Rage: Carrie 2. It’s worth it to eat the late fee if it means you’ll have quality viewing options. more ›