• The severe weather is rolling in just at the thick of rush hour. Be safe.
• Break up the Blackhawks, literally? Rumors are flying that Dustin Byfulgien, Brent Sopel, and Ben Eager could be part of a huge trade sending the trio to Atlanta.
• A big head carp has been found in Chicago's waterway beyond the electric barriers.

Chicago Fire Commissioner John Brooks started his extended vacation on Friday so the Office of Compliance can complete an investigation into sexual harassment allegations. Deidre Green, a payroll auditor for the Chicago Fire Department, claims Brooks made repeated phone call to her from July 2008 to October 2008 and made lewd comments in the workplace, the Sun Times reported. After refusing his advances, Green was place on the layoff list, but was done so because she had the lowest seniority, Brooks said. He denied the allegations, telling the Sun-Times, "I do not proposition women. I don't have to. Women usually proposition me. God has blessed me like that." more ›

It seems like just yesterday we were talking about Daley's public support of under-fire Police Superintendent Jody Weis...because it was. Behind closed doors, however, it's a different story entirely. Mayor Daley reportedly raked Weis over the coals in a closed door meeting over the alleged mistakes made during the Taste that led to violence and the overall rise in the city's violent crime this year. One source told the Sun-Times, "It wasn't quiet."

Weis was "searching for reasons other than police work" for the violence and, what patrons have called, an "intimidating atmosphere" at this year's Taste that threatens to destroy a marquee event and burst Daley's Olympic bubble. "He was trying to say, 'We did everything we could' to control the problems. The response [from Daley] was, 'Like hell,'" the source said.

"OEMC has always been in charge of disaster scenes," the mayor said, arguing that the embattled Weis would focus on "terrorism and other issues." more ›

Train update: "Fire Commissioner Ray Orozco said five people were in serious to critical condition and at least 30 people suffered less serious injuries. That number could rise to 50, he said." The NTSB is investigating. Storm watch this weekend. Cold, icy, rainy, blerg. RIP, Evel Knievel. America's Legendary Daredevil was 69. Check it out: local steampunk wedding. Congrats! Here's our favorite part of this Freakonomics interview with Sin in the Second City author Karen... more ›

Donald Walsh, the high-ranking paramedic who has been in the midst of a racial brouhaha in the Fire Department, has been fired. He's not too upset about the dismissal considering he wasn't planning on coming back anyway, but he is unhappy about the circumstances in which he was let go. Walsh feels that he is being "railroaded" by Fire Commissioner Ray Orozco. In 1995, when Orozco's father was Commish, Walsh was a member of an... more ›

Reader and Audience via swanksalot more ›

So we've all been hearing about how Chicago is no longer the murder capital (Congrats, NYC on your new title!) and how in 2004 there were 155 fewer homicides, right? But did you know that the number of fire fatalities in the city is at a 25-year low? The Chicago Fire Department says the city had 35 fire-related deaths last year - compared to 55 in 2003, 185 in 1980, and a record of 196 in 1977. more ›

Chicago Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter announced yesterday that he'll unveil a health and fitness program for firefighters in the next few days. The planned program will be voluntary, but Trotter has also been pushing for mandatory physical fitness benchmarks for firefighters. more ›

Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter will unveil a new organization for the Fire Department today. The overhaul comes in response to the scathing report on the fire department's failures in the Loop fire in October 2003 by the Mikva Commission, a county-appointed panel, chaired by Abner Mikva, convened to analyze the Fire Department's response to the high-rise fire. Six people died in that fire, and the Commission pointed to the FD's inadequate training, lack of physical... more ›

Chicago firefighters are not web savvy. Perhaps you recall the brouhaha over the sexist comment someone posted in a chat room? Yeah, now the CFD is cracking down on internet porn. It might not be porn, actually, just “inappropriate” sites, which, if we know anything about the Internet (and we do because we’re a website), could mean anything. The Fire Department shut off Internet access to 59 firehouse computers after an internal investigation (perhaps a... more ›