It's been more than three years since the University of Illinois board voted to retire Chief Illiniwek as the Urbana-Champaign campus' mascot. Now, students and faculty are organizing to try and find a proper replacement for the Chief. Recently, the Illinois Faculty Senate and the Illinois Student Senate have both called for the creation of a new mascot and twenty different student groups also picketed outside a non-university sponsored Chief event. more ›

Illinois budgets are in trouble all over -- at a meeting with legislative leaders late Tuesday, Gov. Blagojevich warned that unless a budget deal is reached, state government could shut down next month. Selling sex toys on the side and earning a $64,000 salary wasn't enough. Karen Bailey, a top assistant to Cook County Commissioner Jerry "The Iceman" Butler, faces felony charges for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from an 87-year-old woman, prosecutors and police... more ›

"Palm Terrace" via kookybites. more ›

"devon devon 4558" via abmarfia. more ›

The FBI's Chicago office is one of the places where agents abused power of the Patriot Act. Our aldermen have advanced a plan to back the city's Olympic bid with a $500 million financial guarantee. Michelle Obama is cutting her hours at her regular job at the University of Chicago so that she can participate more in Barack's campaign. People are still debating about Chief Illiniwek. Elementary schools may be posting record high gains... more ›

In a week where Wisconsin earned its first ever #1 ranking for Men's Basketball and then quickly tossed it aside, losing to the Spartans of Michigan State, the next night it is the Illini who are getting all the press. more ›

"Clouds as beacon" by kudzuplanet. more ›

The latest salvo in the battle for the future of Chief Illiniwek was launched yesterday by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, when they presented the University of Illinois' board of trustees, the university president and the chancellor with a resolution demanding the university "cease use of this mascot." Welcomed by the American Indian Studies faculty and the staff at the Native American House at the university, the resolution charges that regalia given to the U of I is being misused to represent the people of Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw and Wea nations. more ›

That new TV show, "Armed & Famous," where they train Z-list celebs to be cops ... it's in Indiana. Figures! Some racist assholes with a pro-Chief Illiniwek page on Facebook made threats against a Native American University of Illinois student. Suggested one person, "I say we throw a tomahawk into her face." A lady from Florida is suing Kraft because Capri Sun says "All Natural" on the label. When did she figure out that... more ›

Chicagoist works in an office full of men. Manly men. The kind who drink beer and eat meat and watch football ... lots and lots of football. Through this circumstance, we have come to know way more about college football than we would otherwise know. For example, that the Illini are having a pretty crappy season. 2-8? Good luck. They're going up against Purdue (6-4) in Champaign even as we type this. more ›

It looks like the University of Illinois' controversial mascot, Chief Illiniwek is about to dance his last dance. The university announced that he will perform at season opener in Champaign, and at home basketball game this winter before hanging up his head dress. more ›

"We Are Workers Not Criminals" via swanksalot. More coverage on the immigration rally tomorrow. more ›

As Chicagoist covered last week, the NCAA has banned the use of 18 college nicknames and mascots because they are abusive and hostile towards Native Americans. Among those on the list was the University of Illinois' Fighting Illini nickname and Chief Illiniwek mascot. more ›

Last week, the NCAA instituted a new policy that would ban schools using "hostile and abusive racial/ethnic/national origin mascots, nicknames or imagery" during NCAA Championships and would prevent offending schools from hosting postseason events. While broad in policy, the NCAA has squarely aimed these new rules at the 18 schools with Native American nicknames -- including the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. Many have been outspoken in their opposition to the NCAA's decision, including Florida... more ›

Score one for Native Americans! Following years of internal debate in the Village of Lemont, a community-wide vote this month and approval at Monday’s meeting of the District 210 Board of Education, the name “Injuns” has officially been dropped as the moniker of Lemont High School’s sports teams. The switch, to the not-so-offensive “Titans,” comes after five years of pressure from the Illinois Native American Bar Association, who are pleased with Lemont's decision but promise to continue fighting against the 27 Illinois high schools that still use “Indians” as their nicknames (not to mention the six that use “Redskins,” the three that go by “Braves” and the twenty that consider themselves “Warriors”). more ›

� An IL court tells Demon Dogs that they have to pay up on 14 years of electricity bills that the CTA paid more ›

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign got slammed yesterday in a report from its accrediting agency, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The report says that the continued use of mascot Chief Illiniwek and the tremendous controversy around that use had started to erode the academic integrity of the institution. �The rate and amount of damage to the institution will continue to accelerate if the issue is not addressed decisively and soon,� the report reads, and it cites two major problems that surround the debate: it pits students and faculty against university administrators and board members, and that it hinders recruiting efforts targeted to minority students and faculty. It's also pitting students against each other: last March, only 31 percent of students at UIUC voted to retire the Chief. more ›