Northwestern University professor Charles Mills married his wife Elle in 1993 to help her secure U.S. citizenship. The two are splitting ways, and Mills is on the hook for support payments — even though their “shell marriage” was never consummated. more ›

• Police continue their investigation and have offered a reward in the murder of Lawndale resident Regina McGraw.
• A Cook County judged ruled in favor of Joseph Reyes, a father who wanted to take his young daughter to Catholic church during his visitation hours. The decision came as part of a divorce proceeding between Reyes and his wife, Rebecca Reyes, who asked for an injunction as she was raising their daughter Jewish.
• Two Kentucky men were arrested at the downtown Hyatt over the weekend for having $50,000 in counterfeit money, a suspected "date rape" drug, weapons and fake i.d.'s. No word if they'll also be charged for their hairstyles.

• More on the Scott Cohen fiasco as his divorce papers have surfaced.
• The Chicago Reporter examines if residents who live near rail yards face an increased risk of cancer. [via]
• Officials discovered and recovered a vehicle from the Chicago River earlier today.

Never one to go more than a few days without telling the media what he thinks, Drew Peterson gave a jailhouse interview with NBC's Today Show that, once again, proclaimed his innocence. more ›

Pop quiz: Let's say that your fourth wife goes missing. And let's say it happens under suspicious circumstances. And then let's say that after her disappearance, the police reclassify your third wife's death from "accident" to "homicide" which only fans the flames of speculation that you're involved in her death as well as said fourth wife's disappearance. Do you: more ›

Those of us who grew up in Chicago are used to watching Michael Jordan dominate on the court. Yesterday, MJ dominated in court as the Illinois Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a case brought by Karla Knafel against the basketball superstar. more ›

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Jim Oberweis campaign will be announcing “a major endorsement” today, and that that endorsement will be from Dennis Hastert. Oberweis is running for the 14th Congressional District seat that was vacated when former Speaker of the House resigned earlier this year. Although Hastert endorsed Oberweis for US Senator in the 2002 Republican primary, Jack Ryan won that race, later withdrawing after his (sexy) divorce files were unsealed. An... more ›

Stacy Peterson, a 23-year-old Bolingbrook woman, has now been missing for five days. Though police are still calling their investigation a missing person search (and not a homicide investigation,) it can't be good that they are searching a nearby pond. Today's news has three main parts: The actual investigation: Two days before she disappeared, Stacy Peterson told husband Drew Peterson that she wanted a divorce, according to her aunt, Suzan Robison. The next day, Peterson... more ›

That Mayor Daley. What a guy! When he isn't busy saving us from being the next Detroit, he's addressing the media with frustration and consternation. After a 48 - 0 vote in the council yesterday, Daley's plan to divorce the Office of Professional Standards from the Police Department was approved. As part of his new plan to "restore public confidence", Da Mare will be bringing Los Angeles attorney Ilana B.R. Rosenzweig in to be the... more ›

- Craig Stebic had his divorce petition dismissed. We're guessing he got no argument from his wife. more ›

What is the value of a marriage? When all is said and done, how do you tally the intangibles that make up everyday life? For the sake of argument, let’s throw some numbers out there. A goodnight kiss: $10. Breaking from work to drive your child to the emergency room: $250, plus wages that would have otherwise been paid. Dinner night after night, factoring in labor: cost untold. Yet in a divorce, these things get boiled down into monetary values by necessity. Settlements can’t be doled out in hugs or spankings (except maybe in R. Kelly’s fantasy world). more ›

Chicagoist is a feminist. We make no bones about it and we've felt this way since we knew what one was. We're a staunch defender of women's issues and really aware of the subtle societal influences on women. However, we have never been a party-liner for anything and we may sound like we don't get where these women are coming from. We do. But the first amendment trumps nearly everything and at some point, there... more ›

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried... more ›

We often sit around the Chicagoist office wondering how “Viagra Triangle” could get any more ridiculous and trashy -- with men throwing around money and women with implants and botox taking it all in -- it's just like the fairy tales of our youth. Lucky for us, our question was recently answered when, lo and behold, in swept attorney Corri Fetman and her billboard advertisement proclaiming, “Life's Short. Get a Divorce.” The ad sits atop the parking garage behind Gibson’s and features the headless torso of a man with 12-pack abs and a woman with very large breasts in a black lacy bra, a thong and thigh-high stockings. It reeks of class like a dumpster full of seafood scraps sitting in 100-degree heat for a week. more ›

"Welcome to our store!" by kookybites. more ›

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. more ›

"Grinders" via pantagrapher. more ›

Hold onto your lunch money - recess is in session tonight at the Green Mill with the return of Mortified, a live comedy production based almost entirely on the forgotten artifacts of disaffected youth. Sometimes truth is stranger (and a heck of a lot funnier) than fiction, and the overwrought journal excerpts, angsty poems, and unrequited love letters culled from the performers’ teenage years make for a hilarious reminder that it’s totally awesome to be... more ›

Juanita and Michael Jordan have decided to call it quits. After 17 years of marriage the two are separating "amicably" and their lawyers released a statement saying, "A judgment for dissolution of their marriage was entered today. There will be no further statements." more ›

If the pop culture landscape that is peopled by D-List celebrities can be seen as a mangy dog, then K-Fed’s scheduled appearance at House of Blues last night in the service of hawking his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it album was a Lyme disease-carrying tick on the back of said dog. Easily ignored, but requiring a visit to a board-certified physician if you get too close. But that was last week. This week, his erstwhile retirement plan filed for... more ›

Fuck the election, BritBrit is dumping KFed! Yow! more ›

For your perusal, please find enclosed this weekend's wrapup of murder, mayhem and all things in between: more ›

Chicagoist tends to turn a skeptical eye towards marriage. We don't go in for the whole practice of blowing two months' salary on a ring, we refuse to pay a small fortune on a dress we'd wear once, and IOHO, the societal pressure is just madness. Plus there's the matter of who to marry in the first place. One woman in Tinley Park probably wishes she'd never married Joseph Lyon, whom she later divorced and at whose hands she wound up the victim of horrifying revenge. more ›

For years -– 29 to be exact -– "Image Union" has brought great short films into our living rooms. For the second year in a row, it’s also bringing some of those same films into your local theater. Tomorrow night at the Vic, WTTW’s "Image Union" holds its 2nd Annual Short Film Festival and Season Premiere Party with some local filmmakers, their works and some cheap beer. You’ve likely heard about the short documentary film... more ›

You know, when Chicagoist received an internal office email alerting us to the impending divorce of Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston, the subject line read "!!!." Obviously, we all were just as animated in our reaction to this news as the next celebrity stalker. more ›

Phillyist notes a fistfight between local pols that leaves one man down for the count. Jehovah's Witnesses get a Philly contributor out of bed, things get a little geeky with a film festival and geeky gets taken to a whole new galaxy when they talk with the Dragon Queen of the Dark Kingdom. Shanghaiist gets all excited this week over a new nightclub in the city unfortunately named "Snatch" and Mike Tyson is scheduled to... more ›

Hall of Fame baseball player and Chicago native Kirby Puckett died at 45 on Monday, one day after suffering a massive stroke. His life, like his career, was cut short. He was forced to retire from baseball in 1996 because of glaucoma. In his twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins, he hit .318 with 207 home runs and 1085 RBIs. He made 10 consecutive All-Star Game appearances and won 6 Gold Glove awards for his... more ›

Politics and money. Like it or not, the two go together like vodka and tonic (and often leave you with a similar hangover). You can’t get elected without campaigning, and you can’t campaign without cash—preferably lots of it. For all the talk about campaign finance reform and the twisted influence money often has in politics, not a whole lot has been done to divorce the power money confers from politicians and their campaigns. Sometimes it... more ›

So ya'll remember last summer there was this television actress in town who was getting more press for her high-profile divorce than her bad movies, right? She's got this gravity-defying rack, popularized a hairstyle ten years ago that women in some parts of the city still cling to like an amaretto sour at last call, and was filming one of those movies when rumors started floating around that she was seen around the city engaged in PDA's- that's "public displays of affection" for the anagram-challenged- with Erin's unrequited crush. All we can remember is that post, which is admissable in court as evidence should Vince want to take out a restraining order. Humor us. What's her name? more ›

Though it makes the rest of the Chicago International Film Festival seem sort of anti-climactic, awards were handed out last week to some of the festival films. The big winner of the Gold Hugo for best film? My Nikifor/Moj Nikifor from Poland. Paczkis for everybody! The film won the award, in part, because of a “cinematographic form that creates a dialogue between art and compassion.” We bet that dialogue contains a lot of words like... more ›