The Chicago Tribune is teaming up with CPS to form a weekly high school newspaper and website, written for and mostly by high school students. The Mash, as the new paper is tentatively titled, should eclipse the Red Eye in terms of quality and worthwhileness almost immediately. From the press release: "We want to redefine what a high school newspaper can be, so we put a lot of thought into how we can improve the......

South Side Irish Parade spectators. Photo by Devillibrarian. Who wouldn’t want to support an organization that raises money that helps sick kids? At least one South Side Catholic high school expressed concern that proceeds from the South Side Irish Parade will be going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which supports embryonic stem cell research in hopes of a cure for Type 1 diabetes. After talking with the JDRF, the high school decided not to......

Photo by A Funky Damsel The Red Line is going to be jacked this weekend. Southbound trains will be running on the elevated tracks between Cermack and Fullerton stops.[CTA] Kaushik Patel, who is accused of murdering his two young sons by setting them on fire, tells the Trib that he only intended to kill himself. [Trib, kind of freaky photo of Patel] One person was shot and killed, and another person beaten with a......

Todd Stroger dismissed a 54-page report (PDF) on patronage yesterday. The report, filed last week by retired Cook County Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki, the federally appointed hiring monitor for the county, documents allegations by more than 220 people that illegal patronage practices occurred over two years ending February of last year. Among the allegations in Nowicki's report are an employee boasting that he was a "soldier for Stroger", and would be promoted shortly. According to......

With how nasty the race for Dennis Hastert's vacant seat has gotten recently, you'd think a couple of high school girls were running the campaigns leading up to tomorrow's special election for Dennis Hastert's seat in Illinois 14th Congressional District. Both Republican Jim Oberweis and Democrat Bill Foster have campaigned hard for the vacancy, and this week each accused the other of misleading voters. Bill Foster hit the dairy man on his use of actors......

We’re usually level-headed about other people’s opinions even if they don’t correlate with ours, and normally hold a live and let live attitude. But then something like this comes along so foam-at-the-mouth-inducing that our fingers tremble with all the rage we must type out. Deerfield high school will continue to offer Angels in America, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, as an “opt-in” book for their Advanced Placement course for graduating seniors. The piece, performed on......

Ten-Second Bandit: It's more than just your high school nickname. In fact, it's the FBI's moniker for two different area bank robbers, one of whom is in prison. The other, current 10SB has been holding up local banks, demanding money within...well, you know. So far, he's hit three MB Financial Banks in December and January, and he's been seen in both White Sox and Tigers hats. Hey, we already have a bandit known by his......

So here we were, doing a little poking around some Chicago radio websites on a Saturday afternoon. One link leads to another, and all of a sudden we're on Chicago Tonight correspondent Rich Samuel's site, which we've discovered is a treasure trove of old Chicago media pictures, airchecks and video. And lo and behold, after all the chatter this week about Sam Zell selling just about everything relating to Wrigley Field, there's a Sam Zell......

Photo by Joe M500 A New Trier high school student got access to the school's computer system, apparently to check his class rank. He didn't steal any personal info, and nothing was deleted or changed; he just accessed "student directory information for all students, semester grades for current students and the last three graduating classes, and ACT test scores for the class of 2008." Police are investigating. [S-T] This is my dance space; this......

Photo by PhotoDu.de Update on the Waukegan explosion: Nine people were injured, at least two seriously, and one person still may be unaccounted for. [Trib] The gigantic stuffed bear Truffles, mascot of the Rocky Mountain Factory in Orland Park, has safely come home after he was stolen. "Rumors surfaced Wednesday that a high school student wore Truffles' clothes to class." The students returned the bear. [S-T] What if all the fashion-conscious outfits featured on......

A new study released today says that 44 percent of CPS freshman don't graduate, and 73 percent of those drop-outs were "over age" when they started high school. While there's no one reason students drop out, there are a lot of factors that indicate how at-risk a kid is. From the Sun-Times: According to the study, missing more than 10 days of school or failing two or more courses in the fall semester of freshman......

Often when we think of plays, rosy cheeks and jazz hands come to mind. While a great variety of plays exist, it seems the majority try to uplift and entertain, not scare the bejesus out of us. But the WildClaw Theatre wants us to expect the unexpected. This newly-formed company is dedicated exclusively to bringing true horror back to the stage, and wastes no time kicking off their mission with The Great God Pan -......

Who doesn't love dogs? Besides these two, we mean. Many of us here at Chicagoist have our own pups that we lavish with too much attention and expensive things to chew. There's nothing that warms our hearts after a long day at the office like the excited look and wagging tail of our canine companions. That said, we've been fascinated with the show dog obsessives since the time our high school girlfriend's mother yelled at......

Random things that we like: those who do what they love, and groups that help to foster that experience. That’s why we are kinda interested when we hear about organizations like the Chicago Cello Society which, since its inception in 1980, has strived to unite Chicago amateur and professional cellists to promote the art of playing the instrument as well as its standing in the musical world. David Sanders –- currently a cellist in......

It seems like everybody in town knows Tony Rezko's name. And why not? Besides being under federal indictment, he's a big player in Illinois politics. He's also gotten some national attention, with Former Gov. Jim Edgar musing that Rezko isn't really Obama's problem, and a photo of him with former President Bill Clinton surfacing on the Today show. So who is Tony Rezko, and why is he under indictment? Rezko immigrated to Chicago after high......

Demetrius Warren, 17, was charged yesterday as the gunman in Amadou Cisse's murder. Warren had already been charged with other crimes from the robbery spree that night, and three others have already been charged in connection with the case. Warren, of the 5800 block of South Michigan, was already on probation for aggravated battery and robber. Until his arrest in November, he was a student at the Alternative Learning Community High School, which the Trib......

The Illinois High School Association is coming under fire from the media this week with a story in the Reader and an editorial in the Trib about the organization's recent decision to ban photographers from high school sporting events unless they sign a document promising not to sell their photos. Yikes. The IHSA has a contract with VIP, a Wisconsin-based photography firm that takes photos at high school sporting events and sells them to athletes......

Last week we were channel surfing and came across "The Harlem Globetrotters: A New Generation" on Channel 50. We watched it for a little bit and were caught up in both the athleticism of the new Globetrotters and the timeless entertainment of their gags. It reminded us of the days when ABC's "Wide World of Sports" would showcase the team seemingly every other month. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player to be associated......

Here are some things to do this evening to consider bringing your voter receipt. Politics: The local chapter of Drinking Liberally is hosting a Super Fat Tuesday party at Sheffield's this evening starting at 7 p.m. Stop in, order a pint or two and watch the results roll in from throughout the country. Seriously, it's politics and alcohol. What could go wrong? Art: Chuck Walker's latest exhibit "Through a Glass Darkly" just opened a run......

It wasn't so terribly long ago that in order to watch any sort of semi-obscure Japanese cinema you'd have to be prepared to invest in a region-free DVD player and sit through discs with dubious subtitles (when they were subtitled at all). Even a filmmaker like Kurosawa wasn't immune. Luckily for cinephiles the situation has really changed, and access to Asian cinema in general is better than ever. If only our access to Hyde......

Jerry Lai STR/AP More details are emerging about the Tinley Park murders from this weekend. In addition to the five women who died, one woman was shot but survived and gave police a description of the gunman, who is still at large. Lane Bryant is offering $50,000 reward for information that leads to the shooter's arrest. The mayor of Tinley Park has ordered the town's flags to fly at half-mast for the next five......

Made in Chicago has been buried under snow and soot for a minute, but on a cold, wintry day such as this, we're digging it out with another homemade gem to share with all of you to help you finish out the week. By day, David Head is a graphic designer for a local marketing firm, but by night, evidence of his indie posters and silkscreens (like this Pony's poster, right) can be seen in......

++ Only 34 percent of Illinois sex ed teachers talk about condom use, 68 percent talk about birth control, and 30 percent have never been trained to teach sexual health courses, according to a study commissioned by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health. The authors of the study blame abstinence-only federal funding. ++ Scum of the earth & co. stole computers from a Blue Island school for students with special needs. The police caught them,......

In a political season that has been marked by the theme of change, Illinois's 3rd Congressional District has become one of the battle grounds over what the Democratic Party might look like going forward in 2008. Critics of the incumbent, Dan Lipinski, are unhappy with his opposition to abortion rights and stem cell research, and his siding with moderate Republicans on the war in Iraq and domestic spying. Besides his voting record, they also don't......

Rich Mohr creates a chilling yet cool tribute to Heath Ledger's Joker Even if he's truly reformed, hiring Wallace "Gator" Bradley as a paid consultant could backfire for Judge Michael Hyman, who's running for election. Aldermen, real estate, lobbyists : lather, rinse, repeat. It's not chocolate: a new drug that helps women quit smoking. Starting next fall, high school athletes will be subject to random testing for steroids. The new buzzword of the moment......

Fred Thompson officially drops out of the presidential race. [Trib] Today's wisdom from Paige Wiser: How to "flatter your full-sized foot." But she is so wrong about pointy shoes--they make your legs look longer and are a must with pants. [S-T] An off-duty police officer working as a security guard at a high school on 43rd street shot a 16-year-old who brought a gun to school this morning. [Trib] Chicago residents continue to vote......

An Elgin high school teacher was stabbed in the neck and face by a student Friday morning. Carolyn Gilbert, a family and consumer sciences teacher, lost her eye after the 16-year-old stabbed her with a steak knife. According to witnesses, a male teacher entered the room during the attack and intervened, ending the attack. After which, witnesses said Gilbert cried, "my eye, my eye." Yeah, we bet she did. You know. Because she was stabbed......

Photo by Joshua Mellin We just pissed away, oh, an hour perusing the Chicago Postcard Museum. Howdy, The City Beautiful, Hi, Hi There Toots and the Aragon are our faves. Wait....Hydrox cookies are gone?! Not awesome. Not awesome at all. [via] Hey, it's the cutest Mad Men Christmas card in the whole world. Turns out tourists like Chicago in the winter. Hotels are cheap, attractions are empty, etc. More than 1,800 Chicago high school......

We always imagined it'd be pretty hard to get into too much trouble in a place like Boise. The Bulls' second-round draft pick JamesOn Curry, currently playing for the Iowa Energy in the NBA's developmental league, however, managed to find enough to be arrested in the Idaho town early Thursday morning and to be charged with urinating in public and resisting arrest. While the team's draft picks have tended to be high-character players from top......

It's not quite as awesome as snagging one of the solo seats on the bus or Brown Line, but getting the whole standing area to yourself is pretty awesome, On The Flipside. WBEZ condensed a day in the life of the Illinois Supreme Court into one awesome minute. (And...was that a shout-out to one of the State's most intriguing cases?) CPS teacher and NYT blogger Will Okun thinks Chicago high school basketball is pretty......