The 90 degree temps projected for today are the hottest we've had in a while, and the added threat of thunderstorms adds a mugginess factor that we're unfortunately used to, but it could always be a lot worse. Back in 1995, as you'll remember, it was. Temps soared to triple digits just over 13 years ago today starting on July 12, and continued through the 16. They stayed in the upper 70s and low 80s......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Theater Pegasus Players and Live Bait Theater are the co-producers behind Steven Simoncic's "Heat Wave." Based on the book of the same name, this play takes a look at the heat wave of 1995 which took the lives of 739 Chicagoans and asks if the deaths could have been prevented and what went wrong. 1145......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

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......

Chicagoist can think of several things that, for the most part, are considered sacred cows - those things/places/people that even the worst element of society know better than to mess with or bother. Score one sadly up for the worst element. According to the Trib today, Hector Jimenez, an ice cream man in the city's Lawndale neighborhood, was shot Saturday while stopping off at a block full of three-flat homes as was his habit. Neighbors......

Now that the heat wave has passed us by, we’re itching to take a little vacation. Nothing major, just a quick getaway from the city. This week, TWIS takes you on a little journey to the Buckeye state. But first, a little fun right here at home. On Monday, a woman who claims a faulty toilet seat at Borders left her “permanently disfigured,” filed suit against the bookselling giant. Linda Mason was shopping at the......

Chicagoist hopes you enjoyed your weekend, perhaps catching some good music at the Pitchfork Festival, watching the Cubs sweep the Cardinals, or just sitting inside on top of an air conditioning vent. Because any kind of good vibes you have left over will be squashed when you check out today's headlines: Peoria Wife Tortured By Husband 12-Year-Old Leaps From Window To Escape Abuse Man Beaten To Death With Baseball Bats Suburban Teen Dies After Pool......

This week we endured the nasty heat wave, the sniping local politicos, and the weiner wars. This weekend, Chicagoist just wants to have fun. Lucky for us, three shows promise to deliver with a capital F: Sandbox Theatre Project’s Where We Live puts the courtship ritual and all its awkwardness under the microscope, as Jenn and Brandon come home to his apartment over and over again until they get things right. The results are engaging,......