Results tagged “garbage”

The citizens of Gary, Indiana aren't happy today, but at least their garbage is getting picked up again. By a vote of 5-4, the Gary City Council voted to approve a contract that would continue to allow a private company to pick up the city's garbage at the cost of $12 per month fee for the citizens. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay reasoned that privatizing garbage collection was cheaper for the city - the decision eliminated almost 50 city jobs. [WBEZ]

Two executives of a local garbage cart firm were indicted on Tuesday on four counts of mail and wire fraud for their roles in allegedly rigging contracts to repair city garbage carts. Federal prosecutors also charge that the two men paid their minority and women-owned subcontractors substantially less than promised to the city. Urban Services gave more than $50,000 to Chicago political causes, including $35,000 that went to the now defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization. Federal prosecutors claim that Douglas Ritter, and Steven Fenzl, president and vice president, respectively, of Urban Services of America Inc., defrauded the city by orchestrating the amount of the other bids that came in for the contract, ensuring that they won a $2 million contract with the Streets and Sanitation in 2005.

Photo by BrianHagy
• The Blago probe has another victim: William Cellini, who was indicted by a Federal grand jury today for planning to extort Hollywood producer Thomas Rosenberg for money for the Blago campaign.
• Two people were severely injured in a fire after an explosion at Gigi's Restaurant in Naperville last night.
• Cook County Board President Todd Stroger promises his new spending plan, introduced next month, won't include any new taxes.

As we told you earlier this week, Mayor Daley's 2009 budget calls for 300 layoffs in the Streets and Sanitation Department -- a measure proposed to help us deal with our little $420 million shortfall problem. One possible consequence of the cuts, it's being reported, is longer periods between garbage pick-ups. Things could be getting smelly out there pretty soon!

Union leaders for city workers have been informed by Daley aides that they should prepare their workers for as many as 1,000 layoffs in the near future due to the city's continuing budget woes. With the city facing a $400 million shortfall, Mayor Daley is slated to unveil the 2009 budget on October 15 and layoffs look to be a major part of saving money. Said Ald. Ed Smith (28th), "Probably everything will have to be done with layoffs." Daley is also eliminating 3,000 vacant positions. The layoffs are projected to save in the neighborhood of $100 million.

William Bowen's friends have some serious explaining to do. Bowen recently came to in a garbage truck, full of garbage, in Muncie, Indiana.

Well, we didn't set out to have a fecal-theme day, but when it rains (poop), it pours (dog poop). A Gold Coast grandmother was fined $400 this week for flinging dog crap at the Latin School. Strange but true! What would prompt such an act? "I had just had it with Latin," she said. Kass works for CPS and is also minister, according to the Pioneer Local. [She says she] "just got tired of...

We've looked all day and still can't top hedgehogs in bandages (they were bandaged at, no lie, Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital). That's the clear winner of awesomeness today. But there were other good contenders... Good luck getting this catchy pork song out of your head. Have 24 hours to burn? The annual 24-hour The Second City That Never Sleeps: Letters to Santa Benefit kicks off tonight at 7pm at Second City. This year's performers also...

Hearts all across Chicago were broken last January when Zephyr closed its doors. We walked past its former space a few days ago and wouldn't you know, construction workers were busy building what looked to be another restaurant. Alas, it won't be Zephyr 2.0 but rather an Irish-style bar and restaurant (pictured), opening in March 2008 (to their best estimate). The workers didn't know what it was going to be called. New York Times writer...

Barry Bonds was indicted this afternoon for perjury and obstruction of justice. Dennis Hastert resigned today, which means there'll be a special election in his district. Open office plans turn out to suck if you like privacy. No kidding! Is Lollapalooza going to Philly? Police have identified one of the two women whose remains were burned on the South Side. She was Theresa Bunn, 21. Workers paving a bike trail near Lemont discovered the...

The male bowerbird is one ugly dude, but he makes up for his drab plummage by building elaborate, intricate nests with unusual materials like insect skeletons and bits of colorful garbage. Like their namesake, Raleigh, NC's Bowerbirds build a rather glorious abode out of simple, majestic, and formidable storytelling to house their comparatively modest, unassuming image. Chicagoist first basked in the group's aural light back in August, amidst a mellow crowd at Schubas that had to be comprised of at least one-third journalists. At one point, a member of the audience approached our camera- and notebook-wielding contingent to ask what all the fuss was about this humble, soft-spoken freaky-folk trio, and we're pretty sure they had their answer by the end of the evening. Chief songwriter Phil Moore weaved fantastical tales over an acoustic guitar and a hi-hat/tambourine contraption, while the supporting cast of Beth Tacular and Marc Paulson shifted easily between a marching band bass drum, violin, and accordion. Much of the buzz surrounding Bowerbirds can be attributed to the staunch support of Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, who has called the group "my favorite new band in forever."

Skidoo sounds like something we made up at 3 AM while at some party: Groucho Marx (in his last movie) plays a gangster named God, Jackie Gleason trips on acid while in jail, Carol Channing plays the most sane character in the whole thing, there's a musical number known as the Garbage Can Ballet, and every credit to the movie is sung. It's an actual movie from 1968 and it was directed by Otto...

OMG, you guys: Puppy thief! Burglars broke into a pet store on 80th and Cicero Saturday night and stole at least 17 puppies. The thieves broke the front window at Pet Luv Pet Center, and apparently filled a plastic garbage can with golden retrievers, boxers, beagles and huskies, a Shih Tzu, a puggle and a Pekingese. The store's owners don't know why the alarm didn't go off or why the security cameras in the store stopped working. Other people are thinking about a barrel of puppies right now ... right?

By all accounts, Park Grill in Millennium Park has been doing wonderful business. It's not surprising, given its location. They also have a sweetheart deal with the Park District. Instead of leasing their digs, Park Grill has a 20-year concession contract with the Park District, with a 10-year option. They also don't have to pay for water, gas, or garbage collection. Lowers the overhead for running the restaurant just a little bit, wouldn't you agree?

Oh, the lengths that some amateur film makers will go to get the perfect shot. Gas station attendant Jose Gomez-Valerio seemed like just another employee doing his job cleaning the bathroom so a customer could use it (you know how gnarly gas station bathrooms can become). That is, until the 20-year-old woman Gomez-Valerio cleaned the bathroom for noticed a red light peering out of the garbage can. That red light turned out to be attached to a video camera that Gomez-Valerio allegedly hid in the trash so he could get his Chuck Berry-level freak on.

Southwest Side Alderman Lona Lane (18th) isn't feeling like chicken tonight, chicken tonight. She's introduced an ordinance to amend a four-year-old pigeon ban to include chickens. The ordinance would make it a crime to "import, sell, own, keep or otherwise possess any live chicken" in a district zoned for residential use. It would also require a separate food establishment license for those who want to slaughter chickens. "I was alerted that some of the people...

It’s been a while since we’ve weighed in with a "Gardenist" update. The last time we did, about six weeks ago, the peppers were just starting to come in, after months of waiting. Since then, we’ve been picking peppers fast and furious. August was a wet month, and September, like much of the summer, was unseasonably mild. This probably contributed to the lengthy wait for fruit to come in from the pepper plants. Two days...

Former WKQX-FM 101.1 radio host Erich "Mancow" Muller filed a lawsuit Tuesday against his former employer, saying radio officials disparaged his show and blocked him from getting other work. We are getting pretty sick of the cell phone drivers, but we are always amazed at the cell phone bikers (not in a good way). Yesterday, an 19-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a garbage truck on the Northwest Side, was apparently talking...

Here are some things in the news to chew on while we're eating kabobs at the Velika Gospa. Macy's second-quarter profits don't look too good. Neither does the forecast for the residential real estate industry. A woman was run over by a garbage truck on the north side this morning. Indications are that she laid down behind the rear tires before it happened. Two apartment buildings in the Fulton Market were evacuated Tuesday after...

Before we teleported up into the great nightclub in outer space, Chicagoist took a few hours to walk around Grant Park this weekend and have a friendly chit-chat with some of the many fine folks who came to Lolla this weekend. Some of them came from nearby - North Side, South Side and the suburbs. Others came from farther away, places like New Jersey. Still others came to visit us from other countries, like Ireland....

Like someone who's ready to quit smoking but still can't clean up their own mess, Chicago will go smoke-free on January 1 but ... we'll still have a little problem. A garbage problem. Daley's trying like gangbusters to make the city go green. And we're behind green roofs, eco-friendly sidewalks and solar-powered bus shelters 100%. But. (Non)news flash: the recycling program is a joke. The Blue Bag recycling program doesn't address the fact that...

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they...

This sounds pretty cool -- the State of Illinois' third annual small-business challenge cited 13 winners for its $10,000 Innovate Illinois grant program. You can find out more about the program here. Don't stop believin' in anonymity when it comes to the mob -- as the much-anticipated Family Secrets mob conspiracy trial opens, jurors will share their backgrounds, views on issues and reading habits-but not their names. It's Police Superintendent Idol! Three and "possibly...

On Friday night at the 5400 block of S. Kilbourn police seized 992 pounds of marijuana. The street value of the weed clocks in at around $2.7 million and according to the authorities the marijuana looked as if it had been recently shipped. As a point of reference for the mass amount of marijuana seized, the following weigh approximately the same; the hog shot by an 11-year old in Alabama, this totally real video of...

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates that 166,000 people experience homelessness in Chicago. We aren't going to try to imagine how difficult it must be to be without a place to come home to, and we certainly don't know what it is like to be so hungry you would dig through garbage for a bite to eat. We've led a pretty charmed life, so far, and so we try to give back where we...

Rats are nasty. Chicagoist wouldn’t want our cat to tangle with one. We’ve all seen those scary “Target: Rats!” posters up in nearly all of the alleys in Chicago. We’re not really sure what the city does when they target rats, but we don’t really want to know. The town of Cicero will spend $8.43 per person this year on rat eradication in comparison to Chicago’s $3.32 a person, and part of their plan this...

It was a different night, but the same results for the Bulls in Game 2 in their best-of-seven series against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons jumped out to another early lead and never looked back, pounding the Bulls once again 108-87. The Bulls were outplayed in every aspect of the game yet again. The Bulls still couldn't shoot; a 34% overall shooting percentage just won't cut it. Kirk Hinrich was 0 for 7 from the...

As everyone in Chicago should know by now (if only due to reading Chicagoist), the Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight, started filming here last week. In the course of preparation, crews turned the old Post Office on Harrison into a Gotham-ready edifice. Planners and conservationists have wondered what to do with the hulking 1920s relic ever since it was vacated in 1996, but we doubt any of them wanted to set it on fire....

Flammable Fire Escapes?

This isn't a local story, but nothing, and we mean nothing, can top the strange case of astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak. She was arrested Monday at Orlando International Airport after attacking Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, who she thought was trying to steal her would-be boyfriend and fellow astronaut, Cmdr. William Oefelein. Aren't astronauts supposed to be our best and brightest? This makes that episode of the Simpsons where Barney lays off the sauce and...