While Lakeview residents are up in arms about the possibility of a WalMart in their neighborhood, The Tribune is reporting that the world's largest retailer is opening a small-scale store in the Presidential Towers complex in the West Loop. more ›

If you thought Groupon was serious about global domination before, wait until you see what they did now. None other than Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has been elected to the company's Board of Directors. Coincidentally, Maveron LLC, the venture capital company founded by Schultz, made an undisclosed stake in the company, furthering speculation that a Groupon IPO is imminent. more ›

Wal-Mart: it isn't just for Austin and Chatham anymore. Chicago Real Estate Daily reports that the retail superpower has signed a letter of intent to lease space for a planned small-box store at 2840 N. Broadway. That's the Broadway on Surf retail space that currently lists as tenants mom and pop stores Cost Plus World Market, TJ Maxx and Bed, Bath & Beyond. The space used to house a Petsmart and has advertised 30,000 square-feet in retail space available for rent. more ›

That didn't take long. Even as he'll be long out of office by the time the O'Hare Expansion is complete, Mayor Daley succeeded in garnering City Council approval for his plan to issue $1 billion in new bonds to fund the ongoing project, which is coming in well over-budget, according to the Tribune. Still, aldermen gave the mayor the thumbs up for the money, a tactic seen as buying time while the City tries to work out a deal with United, one of the airlines balking at the expansion project. more ›

Half Acre Beer Company isn't content to simply keep brewing tank after tank of Daisy Cutter Pale Ale and Gossamer Golden Ale, although they could; I'll posit that Daisy Cutter is arguably the best locally produced beer currently available. Recent weeks have seen them ramp up their game with new beers, collaborations and improvements to the brewery. more ›

Arm chair commissioners have been trying to figure out just how the Big Ten would split its twelve teams into two divisions, after the recent addition of Nebraska to the conference allowed for divisional alignments and a lucrative conference championship game to determine the league's guaranteed BCS bid. Yesterday, the Big Ten officially announced how they're splitting the divisions. more ›

The other day, we mentioned how an apparent ultimatum issued to a couple of Big 12 schools could bring the issue of Big Ten expansion to a head as soon as this week. As a result, it now appears that the Nebraska Cornhuskers will defect and join the Big Ten. An official invite to the Big Ten and an announcement of Nebraska's intentions might come as soon as Friday. more ›

Since the Big Ten announced it was considering expansion in December, there have been a lot of rumors and speculation but not much in the way of firm movement toward adding to the conference's roster of schools. That may change this week. Having originally laid out a 12-18 month plan toward expansion, Big Ten officlals acknowledged that they now plan to speed things up. Or, more accurately, the Big 12 is forcing them to speed things up. more ›

Reports surfaced Monday afternoon, originating from a Kansas City radio station, that the Big Ten Conference has extended invitations to four schools to join the conference. The Big Ten quickly denied these reports, with commissioner Jim Delany stated that the conference remains committed to the 12-18 month process outlined earlier this year. more ›

Crain's is reporting this morning that the federal government is about to make it rain at O'Hare with a new round of funding - $400 million - for the airport's expansion. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be on hand as will U.S. Dick Durbn, Gov. Quinn, and Mayor Daley, who bemoaned the lack of funding earlier this year. It's a major boost for the City in its ongoing fights over O'Hare expansion. Besides the Battle of Bensenville and the fight over the St. Johannes Cemetery relocation, the City has also faced off with airlines over the expansion project. Six major airlines have previously expressed their opposition to the expansion project and American and United Airlines protested a new landing fee meant to fund the project. And that's not even getting into the accused shenanigans surrounding contracts on the expansion. It's not yet known what the new round of cash will be used for but it's still a welcome influx for the City and Mayor Daley who's in full 'Git 'er done" mode on the expansion. more ›

Long lines outside a restaurant are a sign that business is booming and Bridgeport brunch hotspot Nana has had people waiting in droves almost since its opening late last summer. According to co-owner Omar Solis big changes are in store for Nana, starting with an expansion that will add an extra 30-40 seats. That's already on top of their sidewalk patio license, which will add another 40 seats. Solis said that he's shooting for a May target date for completion of the expansion. more ›

After years of legal battles, the demolition of several hundred homes in suburban Bensenville is slated to start today to make way for a new runway at O'Hare. The village agreed last fall to end the fight in exchange for $16 million plus an additional $20 million more from the City of Chicago to insulate homes and schools from noise pollution caused by the planes flying in and out of O'Hare. But even as one part of the Bensenville battle is over, another - over St. Johannes Cemetery - is still ongoing. more ›

The Old Town School of Folk Music is planning an $18 million expansion across the street from the school at 4543 N. Lincoln Ave. The Old Town School purchased the vacant land to build an additional facility with classrooms, dance studios and a 133-seat performance venue. Groundbreaking is expected later this year after additional fund-raising. more ›

The latest object of Big Ten affection will surely raise eyebrows across the NCAA landscape: the Texas Longhorns. The Lawrence Journal World reported yesterday that the conference has started “preliminary exchanges” with the school about possibly becoming that much sought after 12th team for the Big Ten, certainly a big step up over other rumored schools like Cincinnati, Pitt, Rutgers, and Mizzou. more ›

A DuPage County judge ruled on Friday that the city can go ahead and proceed with condemnation proceedings to acquire St. Johannes Cemetery, which currently stands in the way of the completion of a new runway. The cemetery was the last obstacle preventing the city's O'Hare expansion. more ›

With the release of a statement on Tuesday, the Big Ten conference declared expansion to add a twelfth team a "front burner" issue, although Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez tipped the league's hand the other day. As college football has become increasingly about the money, the Big Ten sees the attention and revenue they are leaving on the table. Other BCS conferences, like the ACC, Big 12 and SEC, by nature of at least 12 teams, are able to split into two divisions and play a championship game to determine their automatic BCS bid recipient. These championship games mean big money to the conference and an additional high profile game on TV at the end of the season. It also cuts the down time between the regular season and the bowls. more ›

With the bowls set, buzz has been building over the past few days that the Big Ten is looking to expand to a 12th team for football, the first such expansion since Penn State was added to the conference in 1993. While there's no timetable for the expansion, Wisconsin A.D. Barry Alvarez said last week that the conference is starting to explore some possibilities: "I just think everybody feels [expansion] is the direction to go, coaches and administrators." Alvarez also pointed out a 12th team would lead to a conference split into two six-team divisions and a conference championship game (a la the SEC and Big 12). Conference commissioner Jim Delany was noncommittal about such a move earlier this year, telling ESPN it wasn't, "an obvious move." Delany hasn't responded yet to Alvarez's recent comments. Speculation is already centering on Rutgers to be poached from the Big East as the potential 12th team. Other candidates being bandied about include Syracuse, Pitt, and even the University of Cincinnati as the pipe dream of luring seems to remain just that. more ›

Chicago's own Groupon, the nifty website that offers community-based local coupons at big price cuts, has secured $30 million in new funding and will soon expand its service from 26 cities to 76, The Huffington Post reports. The hot, growing company received most of the new funding from Accel Partners, whose notable investments include Facebook and Macromedia. The expansion cities expect to go live in 2010. more ›

The suburb of Bensenville, long embroiled in a fight against O'Hare's expansion, recently relented, accepting the fate of hundreds of houses and other sites, such as St. John's United Church of Christ cemetery. And now as we await the demolition of these locations, one Chicagoist reader - Paul Petrowsky - made it over there to capture some of the scenes in this new ghost town. But if you get the urge to do the same, be careful. Check out Paul's full set here. more ›

American Airlines has announced it's expanding its service out of O'Hare. Thanks to a magical new $2.9 billion in financing, the airline will grow its presence at four major hubs, which includes adding 57 new flights to its schedule at O'Hare starting early next year. The other three hubs seeing more AA flights will be Dallas/Ft. Worth, New York, and Miami; on the flip-side, services will be cut in St. Louis and Raleigh. One of the new flights is a non-stop to Beijing which had originally been planned for this year. Smaller markets will see more flights to and from Chicago as well, including Fargo, ND, Sioux Falls, SD, and Charleston, WV. [Tribune, Amer. Airlines] more ›

Officials at the Norwegian American Hospital seek federal funding for a new emergency room due to a lack of space in their current one, according to a Chi-Town Daily News report. more ›

DePaul University is looking to expand and has brought its plan to the neighborhood for approval. Chi-Town Daily news reports DePaul has designs on a 10-year development plan which would include a big complex at Fullerton and Sheffield. And now the Sheffield Neighborhood Association will hold its final meeting on the expansion tonight (7pm in the McGowan Science Building). Ted Wrobleski, the SNA's planning chairman, told the CTDN, “Basically one of the concerns is the size of the new buildings, how tall they’re going to be and how that would fit into the character of the neighborhood." But Wrobleski also said that the association and DePaul have a good relationship and there's not much opposition to the plan. more ›

After turning down offers to venture out to Vegas, Kuma's Corner owner Mike Cain told Time Out Chicago that he does have expansion on the brain. In addition to bringing Kuma's winning blend of minor chord metal and gourmet burgers to other working class towns, Cain is planning a second Kuma's location specializing in Southern cuisine. more ›

A new Green Line station is coming to the West Loop at Morgan Street even though studies showed it would be better for a stop at Western. The station will cost between $35 and 40 million and construction will start next year with an eye on a late-2010/early-2011 open. CDOT spokesman Brian Steel defended the decision to the Chicago Journal, saying the numbers that supported a Western stop were outdated: "Since that time, the area around the Morgan station has seen big jumps in residential and commercial development...[The 2002 study] was based on 2000 census numbers. This is 2008. Clearly, the Morgan station has seen significant growth, much more than the area around Western. Another thing that led to the decision was in 2006, the CTA introduced the Pink Line service, which goes through the corridor the Morgan station will serve." Other studies are examining the feasibility of additional Green Line stations at 18th or Cermak in the South Loop and potentially Damen. [via Gapers Block] more ›