• The FDA is looking into Walgreens' plan to sell genetic testing kits.
• UConn President Michael Hogan is the top choice to become the new president at the University of Illinois. Related: a 9.5 percent tuition hike at the school is on the way.
• A tentative start date of November 1 has been set for Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana's terrorism trial. Related: Fox does us all an alarmist favor by listing the top 10 terror targets in town.

Yesterday's news that a second Elton John & Billy Joel concert had been added to the summer slate at Wrigley came as no surprise. The summer concert has become something of a tradition over the years, with boomer-centric acts like Jimmy Buffet and The Police playing multiple shows at the stadium and all the shows have sold quite well. Things, however, are starting to get ri-damn-diculous as news comes today that a third concert has been added to the slate for Wrigley. This one will be country rockers Rascal Flatts featuring Darius Rucker (formerly of Hootie & the Blowfish) and will happen on Saturday, July 18, between the two John/Joel dates. [In case you're wondering, the Cubs are out of town for the All-Star Break and trips to Washington and Philadelphia in that time frame.] more ›

Chicago's City Council Committee on License and Consumer Protection is gearing up to make another attempt at passing a new "promoters' ordinance" that aims to create more restrictions on promoters and their abilities to put on shows at Chicago's music and dance venues. Problem is, while it would weed out the nefarious promoters it looks to curtail, it would seriously hamper the efforts of good, honest promoters who work hard to put on great local events. We'll admit that some of the legal talk is a bit above our heads, but DeRo has a nice breakdown on his blog.

What all this means is that if, say, a local fanzine wanted to promote a monthly concert featuring the bands in its new issue at a well-established local club of 200 capacity, the editors would have to apply for a promoters' license and meet all of the requirements and expenses, even if the club already has a license and can boast of a clean record of trouble-free events. The same would hold true of many regular benefit gigs.