In quick succession, the Cook County Board shot down a series of tax hikes yesterday, including proposed increases on electricity and natural gas. Five other increases backed by Democrat Roberto Maldanado, including taxes on SUVs, hotel stays, jet fuel and liquor sold in bars, died without support from any commissioners. The 2-14 vote against the electricity and natural gas taxes, proposed by Stroger ally Bill Beavers, signaled the unofficial death of Board President Todd Stroger's... more ›

The Chicago Tribune reported on Friday that the 11,000 people who drive taxi cabs in Chicago are considering organizing a union. Based on the organizing model that led to the successful Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City, organizers here are hoping to duplicate those achievements here in Chicago as well. As the price of gasoline has soared, taxi drivers have been hit hardest on their bottom line - take home income. Cab drivers have... more ›

The Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation in Uptown was robbed late Friday of computers, audio-visual equipment and donated food on Friday. This is just one of several crimes committed at the synagogue in the last year. We're not sure how we feel about this ... Wendy's International will begin selling breakfast in Chicago, part of a national expansion into the breakfast market, the Dublin, Ohio-based hamburger chain said last week. Steve Irwin is helping... more ›

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA... more ›

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn continues to swing the whooping stick, taking shots at big business for gouging customers. Last month he scolded Exelon's CEO for claiming that without hiking rates the utility company could go bankrupt, despite pulling down an Alex Rodriguez salary. "The head of ComEd [Exelon chairman John Rowe] makes $27 million a year. It'll take him one minute of his salary to pay the higher electric rates," he said. Then last week, he said downstate power provider Ameren should pay fines out of the executive kitty for not fixing winter storm power outages quickly enough. Now, he wants banks to eliminate ATM surcharges. more ›

If you're hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs "so are you nakie" to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor... more ›

Dear Alderman Rugai, Let's begin by stating that while Chicagoist would find it flattering that a member of the City Council took time out of his or her busy schedule to read this weblog (or "blog", in the parlance of our time) we also would find it a bit presumptuous. So we hope that this somehow gets to you, possibly by a staff member in your office killing time. This particular member of the... more ›

The CTA isn't proposing any more service cuts to cover a $49 million budget shortfall this year, but they are still finding ways to piss off a large portion of its customers. more ›

As much as we love Chicago, sometimes it's nice to escape from the big city for a day. Chicagoist took a day trip down to Starved Rock State Park recently. more ›