Leading up to the special election this Saturday in Illinois's 14th Congressional District, Bill Foster's campaign has announced a slew of endorsements. The list included the Aurora Beacon News, the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the Kane County Chronicle, the Algonquin Countryside, and the Chicago Tribune. Besides local and regional editorial boards, he's also been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, who cited his credentials as a scientist, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, who like......

Chicago took another step towards fulfilling Mayor Daley’s vow that by 2016, we’ll have cameras on “almost every block.” It was announced yesterday that new red light cameras will be installed at 220 intersections, in addition to the 69 red light cameras that are currently in operation, and a ticket for burning a red light will cost you $100 (up from $90 last year). Along with the increased network of red light cameras, cameras will......

Hey, dad, can you give me a ride? Oh, you want to be a brief media sensation? Then yeah, a ride in your plane is cool, too. Aaaaand scene. Robert Kadera maybe heard something similar from his son this weekend because Kadera decided the best way to get his 14-year-old kid to a tennis date was for them to hop in his 1949 Piper Clipper and fly there. He landed the little plane on a......

Podiatrist Dr. Stephen P. Loheide, 64, of Algonquin, has been charged with dozens of counts of exchanging prescription drugs for sex, videotaping those encounters without womens' consent, drug possession with intent to distribute, eavesdropping, possession of eavesdropping devices, and other assorted unsavory activities, all of which allegedly took place in his East Dundee office. Charges unveiled Tuesday assert that Loheide illegally exchanged drugs for sex 26 times between March 2005 and Sept. 30, 2007. During......

Tony Rezko's lawyers want him to be under house arrest instead of in jail for the duration of his trial because they say jail conditions are "deplorable." Uh, no joke! It's jail! But yeah, jail conditions are deplorable. "He has to share underwear with people on the floor … it's disgusting," said [Rezko's lawyer], who noted prisoners in the general population get their own underwear. Clothing for prisoners in solitary confinement is laundered but shared.......

With the Democratic primary election in the 14th Congressional District all but settled, Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis are duking it out over Iraq. Oberweis is accusing Foster of politicizing the Iraq War in his bid to take the seat that Dennis Hastert vacated by retiring. Foster says he won't support any policies that don't "change the course in Iraq and do it now." Oberweis's campaign says that view is out of touch with voters......

Village of Wheeling handout photo via the Tribune website The other day in Extra, Extra, we pointed to a story about Amante Enad, who was cited by the Village of Wheeling for roasting pigs in his backyard. Enad argued he was simply preparing lechon -- "roast pork" -- in traditional Filipino style, and was donating the pigs to his church. It seems this porker prosecution has sparked the attention of a libertarian group, the......

Media speculation over whether or not Bill will chill has been answered with the announcement of the former president's campaign itinerary. Next stop on the legacy-tarnishing express: Edwardsville, IL. Hillary's more controversial half will be campaigning in the small town near St. Louis tomorrow morning, hosting a "Solutions for America" rally at Southern Illinois University at 7:45 a.m. Yeah, Illinois is supposed to be Obama country, but according to a WBEZ report this morning, the......

Artur Shehu is still on the lam, but he was charged yesterday with two counts of first-degree murder for killing his parents. Syrja Shehu, 66, and his wife Safo, 67, were each shot once in the head, and were found dead in their Villa Park home early Monday morning, after Artur placed a call to the police. He was gone by the time police arrived. Artur's car was later found by a North Side golf......

The jury in alleged mobster Anthony Calabrese's trial may hear an audio tape of him beating the living the shit out of someone, even though he's on trial for armed robbery. The Sun-Times got ahold of a transcript of the tape, and it really reads like a scene right out of The Sopranos. Except the curses are blacked out. [S-T] An assistant chief investigator for the Inspector General was caught shoplifting about $100 worth......

Hunter Podschwit is one lucky dog. Or one really unlucky dog, depending on how you look at it. Unlucky to be shot point-blank in the head by a police officer, certainly, but extremely lucky to survive the shooting, yes? On Christmas Eve, one of Nancy Podschwit's West Chicago neighbors called the police, saying one of Podschwit's dogs had gotten past their electric fence. When police arrived, apparently one officer went to Podschwit's side door, where......

Alas, Hansel, the 53-year-old male hippo at the Brookfield Zoo was euthanized yesterday after his caretakers decided his arthritis was so severe that it was ruining his quality of life. Hansel had been at the zoo for 51 years, after moving here with his sidekick Gretel--really--from Denmark. The two had six hippo kids, and one of their daughters, 39-year-old Wicket, is still at Brookfield. Now that Hansel is no longer hungry hungry, his skull......

Is Mike Madigan ready to take a gamble? So it seems from a letter he wrote today to state legislators. He said today that he'd endorse a bill proposed by Democratic reps Lou Lang and Bob Molaro that expands gambling—gaming, sorry—and uses that money for roads and schools. From the AP: The new proposal includes many of the elements that already passed the Senate in September, including a huge, land-based casino in Chicago and......

Long-time Republican Congressman Henry Hyde died early this morning at Rush University Medical Center. He was 83. Hyde served 32 years in the House before retiring at the end of last session, and he was recently awarded a Medal of Freedom. He's best known for his role as the chairman of the judiciary committee during the Clinton impeachment proceedings and for the Hyde Amendment, which bans Medicaid from funding abortions except in cases of rape,......

The Board meeting we went to a few weeks ago was excruciatingly boring, but some parts got cattier than a sorority house during period week. Looks like that was the theme yesterday, too, when things really got ugly at and after the meeting, with Bill Beavers leading the charge. But he wasn't the only one--lots of people got in on the action. Liz Gorman on Tony Peraica: "loser," "pathetic, pathological liar," "abusive weasel," "no man,"......

Eeeeverybody's talking the Complaints Choir of Chicago this week — Daily Herald, Sun-Times, the Trib, Time Out, 848, even UPI — and with good reason. The Complaints Choir is rad! How do we know? Er, Chicagoist is in it. And so are a bunch of Chicagoist readers. But we'd think it was awesome anyway! Really. We've covered the choir before, but as a quick refresher: Finnish performance artists and husband-and-wife team Oliver Kotchta-Kalleinen and Tellervo......

In January George Hood, an Aurora resident, spent 85 hours on a stationary bicycle in an attempt to break the world record. Guinness officials notified Hood that due to inconsistencies in his log of rest breaks, they express "great regret" that he is not the record holder he thought he was. All was not lost in the ride, Hood raised $30,000 for the ride that went to the Illinois chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors,......

Nobody ever questioned the determination of Michael Jordan. The guy who didn't make his high school basketball team worked hard came back to win a spot the next year... then went on to a standout college career, won six titles with the Bulls and was named athlete of the century by ESPN. We guess that resolve rubbed off on his children, because son Jeff Jordan made a bold decision on Friday concerning his choice of......

The big news yesterday was Rod Blagojevich's tax proposals. Coming as part of his combined State of the State and budget address to the General Assembly yesterday, Blago is proposing the largest tax hike in state history. Along with raising taxes (which he said he wouldn't do during his re-election campaign), he is also planning to increase spending by 9.5%, to a record $60.1 billion; $7 billion of that would come from the new gross......

Tom Sherman from fledgling Chicago tech site WindyBits filled up Mr. Fusion yesterday and traveled back in time to review nascent versions of your favorite Chicago websites. We're particularly taken with the proto-version of the Tribune (someone got a Flash book for their birthday), and the absolutely hideous, 1998 incarnation of the Sun-Times (image maps rule). Nobody escapes this internet version of their cool college friends finding their high school yearbooks, including yours truly. Tom......

First of all, we had no idea that ESPN was sponsoring a contest to be the ultimate couch potato. We've been doing our daily reps with our three TiVos, and our endurance training consists of a steady diet of NetFlix. Had we known that we could set a record sitting on our rumps and win a 42" television, we would have worked a bit harder and made our way down to ESPN Zone yesterday. This......

Last Friday we were winding down our work week when shots rang out at the offices across the street. Outside was pandemonium, with police everywhere, streets closed, sirens, and helicopters. Inside was not much better. Our office just stopped and was looking everywhere for more information online, playing radio broadcasts and trying to figure out alternate ways to get home. All the while, we tried to keep you up to date. After the weekend,......

Many local news outlets are finding ways to consolidate the news, and it appears that the Daily Herald is not going to be left behind. The suburban newspaper has formed "an allegiance" (that's one tick below a fellowship) with the local ABC/Disney-owned television station, ABC7. After all, why have just one measly way to reach consumers when you could hit them at every angle with the same messages instead? Well, actually, that's probably just a......

Alderman Tom Tunney wants to ban souvenir hawking within 1,000 feet Wrigley Field. He says this is needed because the sidewalks are already being narrowed in the bleacher seat expansion. Wow. Everyone loves tortillas. The Trib tells us that the sale of tortillas has doubled to more than $6 billion in the last decade. Remember last week when we told you McDonald's fries have more trans fat than thought? They also have wheat &......

Campaign finance is always a tricky issue, but Governor Rod Blagojevich has become a major lightning Rod, especially when it comes to election dough. Besides the fact that he's got a reported $10 million war chest, his father-in-law Ald. Dick Mell (33rd) accused him of trading contributions for state board appointments, and then in early spring he promised campaign finance reform that would "rock this state." Since his main 2002 campaign pledge was to "end......

Not to tread on Will and Kit's territory, but Michael Sneed made a mistake in today's column that could leave some Sneedlings all wet, and cold, for nothing. In her column she reports: Brrrrrr... Police Supt. Phil Cline, whose success at lowering crime stats is being reported nationally, will take a polar plunge this weekend. *Translation: Cline and fellow top cop, Cook County Sheriff Mike Sheahan, will plunge into the frozen waters of Lake Michigan......

Weeee!!! It's suburban municipal primary election day! Yahoo!!! In an election event that seems to cause lack of concern for even the most cranked up political junkie (like this Chicagoist), municipal governments, school boards, library boards and every local elected partisan office outside of Chicago are holding elections. Yipeee! Turnout is expected to be in the staggeringly low two digits (think around 12%) since many towns don't have partisan elections, and lots of voters are......

While some people have already cast their vote (Bush is up 12 votes and all 26 voters turned out in Dixville Notch), hopefully your giving us a quick look before you head out to the polls. Wait though, did you read that? Dixville? Moving on, information on these last couple of races on the ballot is hard to find. Especially on the race for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commission. Does that mean they're not......

Last night was the last debate before Obama takes Illinois Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's seat in the Senate. It got a bit heated, but overall it was more of the same. Sunday, the Tribune reported on a recent Tribune/WGN-TV poll that put Obama at 66% and Keyes at 19%. You've heard it here first. Chicagoist predicts that Barack Obama will win the 2004 Senate race. So since that race isn't really even fun anymore [see......

Governor Blagojevich dreams about Barack Obama and Alan Keyes. Well, at least it wasn't a sex dream? At a press conference Monday, Blagojevich, apparently unprovoked, told reporters about a dream he had. And not like, "My dream is that Illinois is so awesome" or whatever—like, "I went to sleep and this is the weird stuff my brain did." There's no good way to paraphrase this, so we'll just go with the Daily Herald's paraphrase: In......