Cartoon for Chicagoist by Tim Daly......

Mayor Daley sure is busy. Or at least chatty. Yesterday Mayor Daley said he asked the Cook County Board of Review to reopen the appeals process for a special two-week period, March 17-31, for homeowners who feel that their property tax has been assessed too high as a result of the downturn in the housing market. The City has given the board of review data about which areas have seen declining home values, and it......

Yesterday's primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island saw John McCain assume the mantle of the Republican presidential nominee, with commanding victories in all but Texas, and Mike Huckabee's announcement that he's withdrawing from the race. "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been, but now what must be -- and that is a united party," Huckabee told told supporters in......

Today's the big day. Along with 24 other states, we're voting in Super Duper Tuesday. Up for grabs are 1688 pledged Democratic delegates, and 900 Republican delegates. Delegate-heavy states such as California, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Georgia could play a deciding role in the outcome of both races. But with polling showing a tight Democratic race, and Obama working overtime to split votes in odd-numbered districts, tonight's results won't produce a nominee for......

John McCain changed careers last night, from the candidate who was almost out of money (and the race) last summer to quite possibly the Republican presidential nominee. He's now the man to beat. The close but critical win in Florida gave him 57 delegates and a solid lead going into Super Duper Tuesday, (there are no superdelegates at the Republican National Convention). Hillary Clinton won the non-binding Florida race, a largely symbolic victory that featured......

With this year's presidential primaries perhaps the most exciting in recent memory, the media, and the nation, have paid very little attention to today's Democratic primary in Florida. Unlike the Republicans, who will let half of the state's delegates vote at the convention, the Democrats stripped Florida of its delegates to the August convention for holding a primary earlier than party rules allowed. As part of the party's castigation of the state, Democrats have agreed......

The Tribune Editorial Board released its list of endorsements in the upcoming Illinois primaries on February 5. Among the list are 3rd District Congressman Dan Lipinski (striking a blow to challenger and progressive blog champion Mark Pera) and tenacious ice cream magnate Jim Oberweis -- running for Congress in the 14th District -- who is determined to get himself elected to some office, somewhere, some time (we hear Sugar Grove is looking for a......

Attention, Chicagoist readers who live in Florida: Check, Please! is launching in the Sunshine State next week. (There's already a Bay Area version, too. And it's exactly like the Chicago version, clumsy puns and all.) And locally, the show's producers say they're looking to use the fancy schmancy website to expand to other cities. The site is mostly segments from the show, but newer pieces appear to be web-only recommendations--and they don't have Alpana's intros......

With lots of delegates and potential momentum going into Super-Duper Tuesday, Nevada's primary has been both contentious and significant this year. Earlier this week a federal judge settled a lawsuit brought by the Nevada Teachers Union that should have helped Obama. Instead, with more than half of the precincts reporting, CBS, CNN and other major news outlets are projecting Clinton the winner today. Mitt Romney was the big winner in the GOP caucuses, taking his......

In what could quite possibly be the nail biter of the season, Hillary Clinton pulled it out last night, winning the New Hampshire Democratic primary by a two to three point lead over Iowa front-runner Barack Obama. While most of the media was writing Hillary's political obituary, she was winning New Hampshire. With the Nevada caucuses next, and the black vote potentially split between the Clintons and Barack Obama, South Carolina may be back in......

The big news from the campaign trail yesterday evening was an emotional moment with Hillary Clinton and a group of sympathetic, yet undecided, New Hampshire voters. When asked "how do you do it? How do you keep up ... and who does your hair?", Hillary Clinton choked up as she responded, tears welling up in her eyes. Less widely reported, however, was an incident of two men who heckled her in Salem, NH, holding signs......

The Sun-Times giveth, and the Sun-Times taketh away. How great: a list of 10 inspiring women of 2007! Wait a second...Jennifer Love Hewitt and the beauty queen who thinks we don't have maps? Come on. And what exactly do Paige Wiser and Lisa Donovan mean when they say that Laila Ali "redefined our idea of a female athlete"? [S-T] Fire investigators said today that an accelerant was used in the deadly Oak Forest fire......

Chicagoist certainly doesn't envy White Sox GM Kenny Williams and the difficult task he has to rebuild a team that lost 90 games in 2007. On Tuesday, he once again was overmatched by the opposition and missed the ball on potential help for his club. Recent reports suggested that the Sox were close to landing third baseman Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins — a player that Ozzie Guillen referred to as his "fourth son."......

The Cubs have clinched the NL Central crown -- and with two games to spare! Following a three game sweep at the hands of the Florida Marlins, things were looking sketchy, but the Brewers kept on losing, too. When the Cubs returned to the win column in Cincinnati on Friday night, and Milwaukee lost yet again, the final two games were subtracted from the magic number and the Cubs earned a berth in the postseason......

The Cubs couldn't help themselves Wednesday night, as they dropped their second straight game to the lowly Florida Marlins, losing 7-4 in Miami. However, that weird sensation for Cubs fans of actually cheering for the Cardinals worked, because St. Louis did help the Cubs by knocking off the Brewers 7-3. The losses by both the Cubs and Brewers mean that the Cubs magic number is now three. The Cubs have one more chance to reel......

Chicago has a lot of newspaper columnists. We've been watching them ebb and flow for years. But the good ones, or at least the ones we like, have stuck around. Mary Schmich at the Trib is one of them. Her columns inform, provoke thought, remind us to wear sunscreen, and usually cause us at one point or another to laugh out loud. On the Brown line. During rush hour. And then everyone stares. Today we......

With barely two weeks to go in the regular season, the Cubs remain in the thick of the playoff hunt and regained sole possession of first place on Thursday by beating the Houston Astros 6-2 on the strength of a four run first inning and four total home runs. The victory gives them a half game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers, who were idle on Thursday. The Cubs now head into St. Louis for a......

When you think of the nation’s top tourist destinations, family favorite Orlando, Fla., and adult playground Las Vegas, Nev., might spring to mind. But our own Windy City? Depends on who you ask…. In June, tourism officials from the city and state proclaimed that the number of domestic visitors journeying to our fair city had increased by nearly ten percent, from 40.2 million in 2005 to 44.6 million in 2006 — a significant achievement, to......

Well, it is shaping up to be quite the warm weekend. Any of our lovely readers want to invite us to some type of pool party? We'll bring waterwings shaped like Mayor Daley's face. Someone should really make those. In the event we receive no invitations, we've lined up some other activities certain to help you, and us, take advantage of another weekend. As we mentioned yesterday, Calsfest 2007 is taking place at Cal's Liquors,......

Today is a momentous occasion in Chicago Cubs history. It was on this day eighteen nineteen years ago that the Cubs recorded their first official night game at Wrigley Field, beating the New York Mets 6-4 on a national stage; the game was broadcast on NBC with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola in the booth. Note the use of the word "official." Their first night game was actually scheduled the previous evening against the......

Now that Conrad Black has been convicted of mail fraud and obstruction of justice the real fun begins. With prosecutors asking that Black's $21 million bond be revoked, fearing the Lord of Crossharbour to be a flight risk, Black has voluntarily turned in his passport while he awaits sentencing from Judge Amy St. Eve on November 30th. Now the search for his money begins. Of course, government offices here and in Canada are in front......

It is now a little after noon, which means the second Chicago location of Pollo Campero is now open for business at 4830 N. Pulaski Ave. What are you waiting for? Go try it out and let us know how it is, will you? The first Pollo Campero was quite the news maker when it opened in 2005, with long, long, dismayingly long lines. The legendary Pollo Campero fried chicken is known for being juicy......

Another week, another all-you-can-eat Friday Buffet. The photo alone is giving us cravings for some shark meat. - It's National Ice Cream Month. Feeling charitable this afternoon? In the mood for ice cream? Then head over to Atwood Café between 2-4 p.m. and take part in their annual ice cream social to benefit the Fairy Godmother Foundation. Atwood chef Heather Terhune will donate $1 from every ice cream sold (graciously donated by Ciao Bella gelato)......

The NBA's annual draft took place Thursday night, and the Bulls added three new faces to the roster. With the ninth pick--which the Bulls had via the Knicks due to the Eddy Curry trade--they selected Joakim Noah from Florida. If nothing else, he certainly made the biggest fashion statement of the night with his seersucker suit, bow tie and crazy hair. Picking Noah was certainly consistent with GM John Paxson's style of going after players......

Well, Chicagoist had finally come to terms with the fact that Mark Buehrle's days with the White Sox were numbered. We've heard and read the daily rumors about him being traded to the Mets, the Red Sox, the Cards, the Dodgers, the Braves, etc. While we hoped the Sox would lock up the durable lefty, his looming free agency, along with his supposed desire for a five year deal and rumors that he wanted to......

Last week Chicagoist felt like getting our shrimp on. So we did. Having recently visited Florida's gulf coast we had a specific hankering for some medium-sized-almost-lobster-like-in-texture shrimp. So we went out and got half a pound of them. Originally we intended to dump a huge amount of Old Bay all over them and call it a day. Fortunately for us we didn't have any Old Bay and without Old Bay we got to play......

This is not a fun time to be a baseball fan in Chicago. Whether a White Sox or Cubs fan, you no doubt have that sinking feeling about your team's prospects for the postseason after they were swept this week. The Cubs lost 9-0 to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, following a day full of meetings. The players held one. So did management. Didn't help, at least on Wednesday. The players felt they needed to......

Following Lindsay Lohan's lead, a Cook County man (FINALLY) agreed to plead guilty to driving with a suspended license after his 25th offense. Just want to make sure that sunk in: his 25th offense. Among other things he ran red lights, a DUI, a second DUI and, last but not least, drove around town with a suspended license. While Florida's oddballs still have him beat, it is nevertheless baffling that the man told the judge......

So just what, exactly, is Ryan Dempster's role on the Cubs' pitching staff? Not even Ryan himself seems to know. On Sunday, Dempster told the media that while having lost his closers' job he was moving into the starting rotation. However, Cubs manager Lou Piniella immediately told him that plan was on hold. Joking about the flip-flop, Dempster told reporters, "I've got a headline for you. Dempster taken out of rotation after one non-start." While......

We know you guys aren't sitting around pining for us, nor do you really care about our personal lives, but we got caught up in some personal things, and our lives were a whirlwind for a couple of weeks. We're caught up now, and people were being pretty dumb whilst we were away. Welcome to a week (or two) in wtupid roundup. We're pretty sure this is the plot of a movie — A firefighter......