Results tagged “craigslist”

A lawsuit against Craigslist filed by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has been dismissed by federal Judge John Grady. Dart sued the website for enabling prostitution via their "Erotic Services" section. The website has sent removed that section, combining several categories into one labeled "Adult." Judge Grady's reasoning for the dismissal was that the blame for the prostitution didn't sit with Craigslist but rather the site's users who committed the actual crimes. A spokesman indicated Dart is mulling an appeal of the dismissal.

Craigslist buyers uncovered a scam by people pretending to be Illinois National Guardsmen who need to sell big ticket items like cars and boats in a hurry before they're deployed overseas. After receiving several calls, the Illinois National Guard verified that the names of the sellers on Craigslist were bogus according to Chicago Breaking News. Guard spokesman Michael Chrisman said the verbiage is almost the same in every ad, only the type of vehicle for sale is different.

Craigslist is good for a lot of things. We all know that finding hookers is just the tip of the iceberg of what Craig and his list has to offer. For example, our unfertilized eggs could be worth thousands of dollars, numerous gentlemens' establishments would love for us to come dance for them, and we had no idea where we could get a free pile of dirt and some coat hangers, but CL comes through time and time again. Despite the recession easing a bit, times are still tough. But there are still places and people in Chicago that are more than willing to give you money! All you have to do is...well, there's some pretty bizarre stuff out there. An example:

Local ensemble Anaphora has put together another can't-miss mix of new music by local and big name contemporary composers for the final concert of this season's Contemporary Series.

Did anyone really think that getting Craigslist to get rid of its "erotic services" link would cut down prostitution on the internet? The classified-ads-site that became ground zero for Tom Dart's anti-e-whore crusade recently switched from their controversial "erotic services" to the other side of the same coin, "adult services." And guess what - it's accomplished nearly nothing.

• One person is dead and two others were wounded in a shooting in Bolingbrook this morning.
• Sheriff Dart gave the new Craigslist "adult" section a thumbs up.
• Said Ayesh, the father who kidnapped his own daughter last fall, has been sentenced to three years in prison after which he'll be deported to his native Jordan.

Craigslist will drop its 'erotic services' classified ads section in favor of another, more heavily-moderated adult category, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Wednesday. At a morning press conference, Madigan said, "I think this is a fundamental change, a recognition by Craigslist that the erotic services section truly had become an Internet brothel, truly had become an illegal and dangerous place." The decision followed several months of negotiation with the attorney generals of three states, including Illinois, and a federal lawsuit filed March 5 by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Dart, holding his own presser, said, "Under a fair and objective analysis, it's clear that but for our lawsuit, and the pressure we brought as a result of that and the exposure that came as well, that that is what brought this to conclusion."

Sheriff Dart isn't the only official going after Craigslist and their nefarious "erotic services." State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is going after the website as well. According to WBEZ, Madigan said, after meeting with other officials and even attorneys for the website, "Hopefully, Craigslist will do more and if they're uninterested in doing more in that regard, they always have the option of simply taking the whole section down." That's all well and good, but does that also apply to the crazy Missed Connections?

It's a sad day to be a voyeur in Chicago. Cook County sheriff Tom Dart will be holding a press conference later today to announce that the department is suing Craigslist for its sex ads, calling it "the largest source of prostitution in the United States." There have been several arrests of people on prostitution charges after posting salacious ads, even in such hotbeds of lust and sin as ... Omaha. Last November, Craigslist agreed to crack down on the practice. They better not touch Missed Connections.

Usually we're giving out free tickets to cool shows -- and trust us, Thursday's Asobi Seksu show at The Empty Bottle is gonna be hot -- but this w4m Craigslist Missed Connection caught our eye:

First off, if you heard "Sex Expo" and "Excalibur" and your mind didn't immediately mash them up into "Sexcalibur," well, you're just not trying. Secondly, while the idea of a Sexpo in Chicago seemed cool at first thought, after inspecting the photo section of their MySpace (NSFW!), we kinda feel like we need to take a shower.

The Laureates tell us there are no more gentlemen, least of all themselves. So why does their music make us feel like we’re headed to the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance and they'll keep their damn hands off us? With tunes that make us snap along, this foursome puts audiences in a time machine with an early 60s-inspired sometimes punky, sometimes toe-tapping poppy, indie rock sound. Their album interweaves old school harmonized backup vocals and the practically forgotten end-of-song fadeaway, but like recycled fashion, these retro elements are made new again when paired with a bit of hard-edged modern grit.

Wow, the info-nerd in me is going apeshit over this card catalog for sale on Craigslist. According to its listing, the vintage piece "measures 60" tall, 18" deep, and 39" wide. It also has 3 pull out shelves." And is really heavy and costs $250. Too awesome.

History + The Weather Channel = Nerd Nirvana. As part of their new series, When Weather Changed History, The Weather Channel is recreating the sinking of the Titanic "on a boat and in a pool" and they need your help, Chicago. A casting call has gone out looking for an "older male-Captain Smith-40's-60's preferably with a White Beard" and "5 females and 5 other males to be the officers of the boat and passengers." We'd go but we're still haunted by our own experiences as extras in films (including a Lindsay Lohan movie), so it's up to you, readers, to answer the call. Let us know if you get picked.

We told you in Friday’s Extra Extra that the Cook County Sheriff was going to conduct a Craigslist prostitution sting. The results are in: 76 men and women have been arrested for prostitution-related charges.

• Hummer owners are feeling the squeeze from high gas prices. Boo. Hoo.
• Technology in Action: Cook County Sheriff's officials are now busting prostitutes on Craigslist.
• On Sunday, DePaul PhD candidate Karen Alkolby will become the first deaf woman in U.S. history to earn a doctorate in computer science. Alkolby created a computerized dictionary that translates English to American Sign language.

Dominick's has jumped aboard the cheap-generic-drugs wagon and is now offering 300 of the most frequently purchased drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply, which the Trib helpfully points out is also $8 for a 60-day supply and $12 for a 90-day one.

Because those Ticketmaster fees just aren't enough of a pain in the ass, the City of Chicago is suing websites eBay and StubHub, claiming that as "reseller agents," the sites are required to an amusement tax on sports and cultural events tickets sold on the sites under a Chicago ordinance. If the city succeeds, future purchases on these sites could see an additional tax of up to 8% tacked on to the price. The two websites have vowed to fight the lawsuit, issuing a joint statement:

"We do not believe that the City's Amusement Tax applies to either eBay's or StubHub's business models nor do we believe that the Amusement Tax can properly be assessed here. We intend to fight this litigation vigorously."

It's no secret that you can find some reasonably cool shit on Craigslist - concert tickets, jobs, vacation rentals. After dropping a cool grand on new living room furniture for the pad, we spent the better part of yesterday looking for a cheapo dining room table on CL.

The Bachelor is premiering next week, and we always find the show to be interesting in a "hi I am determined to find the love of my life" kind of way. We often think about how sometimes eliciting sexual attention or “meeting someone” can be so contrived and forced. Is the satisfaction of “making it happen” worth wondering if it otherwise would have naturally happened, and maybe trying your hardest to please the other person leaves you with even more disappointment when things don’t work out?

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

We're calling it a day a little early today--and something tells us you are, too.

When we saw "Antique - Vintage Potty Chair - $135" we were, of course, intrigued. But this is ... wow. Talk about worth every penny. This looks like an adult-sized seat, too. As the ad says, it's a conversation piece. We hope we speak for everyone when we say we love conversations that start with "hey, is it cool if I crap while I sit in this chair? Oh, it is? Wonderful." Update: The...

Behold: An unedited video of the Complaints Choir of Chicago. Whee! If anyone knows why the free knife-fighting class for women got flagged and removed from Craigslist, we're dying to know what the deal is. Also dying to take a free knife fighting class, holy hell. A Chicago Police officer caught a little girl who was thrown out of the window of a burning house today, cartoon-style. The girl, her mother and her brother...

This week Missed Connections entered a big of a segregation war, with a few groups banding together to try and prove that more MCs happen in their respective neighborhoods than any other. (Let Chicagoist give you all a little tip: if your locale is full of arty, emotional, sexually fueled 20-somethings, more connections are made rather than missed. Trust us.)

We now join another one of our irregular weekend crime & punishment updates, already in progress.

What a hilarious week to be a Missed Connection. Just when we think things are starting to grow tamer on Craigslist, we're struck with a Desperate Housewives-style fantasy about Juan the door-repair guy. Behold (the parts we don't feel dirty repeating): I know we've only met a couple of times briefly but I just have to be honest. ... On the bed, on the couch, in the shower, on the floor ... I just can't...

If your weekend was anything like ours, you donned some crazy garb and drank until you blacked out, all in the name of Halloween. Some of us out there had near misses with costumed cuties, and others just wished for love in a Freddy Krueger costume. This week we scanned Craigslist for the creepiest Halloween-related Missed Connections and found that dressing up makes those posting ads a little more crazypants than usual. Behold: You’re tall,...

Admit it. One of the reasons you read Missed Connections (and we know you do) is because of the unusual ways people find to try and reconnect. In this edition, we highlight some of the past week's posts, where some brave souls have gone outside of the normal CTA/grocery store/local gym route and found potential love interests in some less-than-traditional places.

We’ve already been involved in a tumultuous love/hate relationship with the new Dominick’s on Chicago Avenue in Ukrainian Village, so we thought we were perhaps not alone in finding a love connection at the ole grocery store. So today, we bring you this grocery edition of the Monday Missed Connections, with all sorts of accounts of people making eyes at or around the meat counter. Paging jeans and T-shirt guy: missed connection in aisle four....