Several days ago, we reported that the Aldermen were going to be considering a ban on sparklers in the city. Unfortunately, the Daily Southtown reports that City Council approved Jim Balcer's (11th) revised proposal to get rid of sparklers in the city, and the sparklers are now banned. They didn't even debate. The Mayor gave his pearls of wisdom on the topic as well. "Sparklers are completely different now," Daley said. "They've gotten more dangerous,... more ›

As all of us watch the terrible news in Minnesota unfold, many state governments are starting to look at their own inventory of bridges. Illinois ranks in the middle of bridge condition when compared to other states, according to an AP article in The Daily Southtown, with around 10% of our bridges rated "structurally deficient" - slightly better than the national average of 12%. Yesterday Governor Rod Blagojevich ordered immediate inspections of high-volume bridges and... more ›

"The iPhone -- it's goddamn cooler than a missile defense shield!" by TheeErin more ›

Last Thursday, the Regional Transportation Authori-tay (RTA) told Metra, Pace and CTA to start preparing emergency budgets to take effect July 1 due to a $226 million deficit in the big picture of the RTA. Springfield needs to help out or the Chicagoland area is getting some more salt in the public transportation wounds that have been inflicted with deteriorating infrastructures, higher fares and delays caused by massive renovations. The Daily Southtown article quoted RTA... more ›

Has Cook County politics become so cynical, so corrupt, and so arrogant, that it just doesn't matter anymore? If recent calls for an investigation of $500,000 that is "missing" from the county budget are any indication, we have to wonder if there is a light at the end of the tunnel for both taxpayers in Cook County and the people that use the services that the county finances. Tony Peraica, the Republican that was supposedly... more ›

We're guessing that The Daily Southtown's Paul Ladewski was following his mother's advice when he decided to submit a blank ballot for baseball's Hall of Fame voting. While many players with Hall of Fame numbers eligible for election were passed over because of steroid allegations — yes you, Mark McGwire — Ladewski decided to just forfeit the whole era. more ›

After playing the part of the stern nanny to the entire city of Chicago for most of last year, the City Council is making it easier to booze it up over the holidays. The Daily Southtown reports that businesses throughout Chicago will be allowed to start selling alcohol at 8 a.m. on Christmas and New Year’s eves. Both holidays fall on a Sunday this year, a day when alcohol sales are prohibited before 11 a.m.... more ›

Now that we’ve paid lip service to the artier aspects of film, it’s time to get back to completely trivial bits of entertainment “news.” more ›

Oak Lawn (southwest of Chicago) Police Chief Bob Smith sent letters this week to five businesses within his jurisdiction telling them that they could be prosecuted for selling adult videos and magazines. In the letter, sent to one video store and four convenience stores, Smith notified the businesses' proprietors that he was working with prosecutors to determine whether the dirty mags and videos break local obscenity laws. more ›

If you need your fill of gay cowboy action before Brokeback Mountain hit theaters, you're in luck. Cowboys and cowgirls from across the country are galloping to our fair metropolis to compete in the Windy City Rodeo 2005 this weekend. Being held at a ranch in Crete, IL, the two-day event features such competitions as pole bending [teehee], bull riding, bareback bronc riding [oh my!], steer riding, chute dogging [uh huh], team roping and three... more ›

A decade ago when Chicagoist was just graduating high school, we would have never considered coming out as gay to our friends. While youth still need to worry about unaccepting teachers and being bashed by peers, today's high schools are a vastly different place. more ›

The implied mission of Mayor Richard M. Daley's new chief of staff, Ron Huberman, is to reform city government -- do what none of the almost dozen chiefs of staff before him were unable to do. Monday, in a press conference he announced, along with City Corporation Council Mara Georges, that patronage and clout in city hiring is over. "It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter who you know. We are operating as... more ›

There's a new site in town and it's aim is to round up listings from local online classifieds. The site is called Oodle and it launched its Chicago beta yesterday at chicago.oodle.com. It's a free service that accesses all of the classified listings in the Greater Chicago area - so cars, jobs, housing from Chicago to Elgin to Joliet to Aurora. more ›

In a strange new twist of the Mell-Blago Saga, Capital Fax has been doggedly reporting the unravelling relationship between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Mell captain, Dominic Longo. Longo, once convicted of voter fraud, and now the head of Alderman Dick Mell's patronage organization, The Coalition for Better Government, has recently sent the Governor (who's real first name is apparently "Milorad") a cease and desist letter for defamation, claiming that the Governor should stop saying he... more ›

With the Illinois General Assembly's veto session beginning Monday, quite a bit of important legislation could be passed. Leaders of the State Senate and House met with Gov. Blago Thursday to discuss the agenda. Legislators will discuss increasing the number of armed security guards at the capitol (in light of the September shooting of security guard William Wozniak), the CTA bail-out, more casinos in Illinois (as one possible source for the CTA bail-out) and one... more ›

The Hollinger scandal has finally busted itself wide upen, but the ensuing legal battles have probably just begun. Hollinger International, which owns the Sun-Times, has admitted, after a three-month investigation, that they inflated the Sun-Times' circulation by over 50,000 for weekdays and 17,000 on Sundays. According to Hollinger's press release, Saturday circulation was not inflated. Weird. more ›

Believe it or not, there are some folks out there that would like to see Mike Ditka elected as our next Illinois Senator. The Daily Southtown reports today that Tom Pence of Oswego, a Kendall County GOP committeeman, is leading an effort to get 10,000 signatures to put up Mike Ditka as the Republican State Party Chair, and now there's talk of him going for the Senate spot too. more ›