You like lulz and nonchalantly explicit Craigslist ads, right? Sure you do. Here’s one straight from the City of Wind, purportedly written by a young lass trying to find her bathroom stall hook-up at February’s Megadeth/Motörhead Gigantour stop at the Aragon Ballroom. more ›

If you can find a futon, a bicycle or a date on Craigslist, why not a relief pitcher? more ›

Police arrested a suburban man who posted on Craigslist trying to arrange meetings with fathers "willing to share their daughters." Once arrested, the man thanked police for saving him from his addiction to child porn. more ›

Summer is a time for carefree, youthful love, and a gathering like the recent Lollapalooza is fertile ground for blossoming romance. One enterprising, lovelorn spirit took to the Craigslist online classifieds to pine for his Juliet, in an especially, um, passionate plea to rekindle the magic. more ›

Denver developer Ryan Eaves created a real-time proxy for Craigslist that converts any Craigslist site into reading them as though the words are sounded with a lisp. Check out Chicago's, sorry, "Chicagoith." more ›

We'll be honest: we have a hard time getting into any sort of romantic mood at any of the CTA stops across town, even the recently renovated Belmont stop. But according to one report, the Belmont stop is where all the action's at, if you're going by Craigslist's Missed Connection ads, that is. Craigslist did a study of the train lines using a scale called the Train Romance Index Score Total aka TRIST (we see what they did there) and the Red Line came out the winner with the most missed connections and Belmont as the most popular stop. Second place overall went to the Brown Line with the Blue Line coming in third. The least romantic train line according to the formula? The Pink Line. As for individual stations, after Belmont comes the Addison Red Line (full of drunk, amorous Cubs fans?), California Pink Line, the Linden Purple Line (Northwestern students?), and the other North Side mega-stop, the Fullerton Station. more ›

With the economy still struggling through an anemic recovery and unemployment at record highs, it's good to know that some people are still hiring. [H/T to Sam Abernethy] more ›

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has scored a victory in his war against Craigslist and their "Adult Services" section, albeit indirectly, as the online classified ad service has currently removed the section from its site. The previous links to the section have been replaced with a black box with white text reading "CENSORED." more ›

Oh, internet. How you adore April Fool's day. Whether it's the opportunity to try to pull the digital wool over some of our eyes, or just the chance to have a little seasonal fun, lots of sites see today as a reason to fool around a little bit. So, since we're taking this year off of toying with readers in the name of good fun, what else is going on in Chicago-related tomfoolery? Here's a few: more ›

Three men were arrested earlier this week for a rash of Craigslist-aided robberies that began in October, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. more ›

Awesome timelapse video by Joshua Mellin more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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: more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

• 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." more ›

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? more ›

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. more ›

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: more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

• 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. more ›

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. more ›