Lake Shore Drive has just re-opened after being closed since 5:30 for the annual Bike the Drive. We were at 31st Street and snapped a few shots on what has turned out to be a gorgeous morning for riding bikes. No word yet on whether any bikers were consumed by the potholes that plague the drive. More photos after the jump.......

Photo of last year's ride by our own Tim State Bike the Drive is Sunday, and registration for the annual event closes tomorrow at 5pm. Registration is $40, though sneaking in isn't unheard of.......

The following events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Raul Midon has slowly developed a strong and dedicated fan base with constant touring behind his own hybrid form of soul songs steeped in pop sensibility, calling upon influences ranging from Stevie Wonder to Paul Simon to Bill Withers. His albums tend to be too slickly produced for our ears but in concert Midon......

The moon doesn’t care about the frigid weather – it’s holding its event anyway. A total lunar eclipse will occur tonight and the Adler Planetarium is raising the roof (literally) for an al fresco celebration. The generous folks at this Chicago landmark are opening the Doane Observatory to the public for this special event so stargazing visitors can see the eclipse up close. Peer through one of the souped-up telescopes to enhance your viewing pleasure,......

The Chicago City Council held off on voting on a controversial ban on urban chickens yesterday. Since urban chickens are all the rage, it seems like a perfect time to ban them, right? Southwest Side Alderman Lona Lane (18th), who proposed the ban, said she didn't know why the vote on the ban was held up. Maybe it is, as the Sun-TImes suggests, because Mayor Daley has a thing for urban poultry: "Let's be realistic,"......

Where Can I Go Sledding?...

It wasn't your imagination. There really were extra problems on Lake Shore Drive this morning, with 20 vehicles damaged and 3 people injured. Stupid potholes. Now it's even more convenient for the City to take your money! New robot kiosks now accept payments for your parking tickets, water bills and red-light tickets. An update to this morning's story about the 4-year-old who was shot and killed: her brother has been charged, as a juvenile,......

What's the Speed Limit?...

Let's be clear: Friday night’s Chicago Critical Mass ride will not be the last. No matter what the veteran masses staffing the ad hoc “Grand Finale Committee” decree, cyclists will keep coming to Daley Plaza the last Fridays of October (Halloween Mass!), November and, barring a citywide emergency or SWAT-style police crackdown, every month after that. Want us to prove it?......

- As the CTA moves along with its Doomsday Scenario, Mayor Daley raised the possibility of dedicated bus lanes on Lake Shore Drive. - Dick Devine's current term as Cook County State's Attorney will be his last. - The city is placing the search for a new Police Superintendent in the hands of a highly respected D.C. think-tank. - Good news and bad news on the historic preservation front. - Four men are charged......

When we were kids, we used to visit many of the neighborhoods around Chicago as part of our parents endless quest to eat food from as many cultures as possible. Pierogi in Avondale, tortas in Pilsen, souvlaki on Halsted, dhal on Devon, and the biggest polish-with-kraut you ever saw on Maxwell are just a taste of what we've had the good fortune to eat over time. It isn't the food that sticks in our minds......

While many of you shuffle back and forth from stage to stage in Grant Park this weekend, we thought we'd take the opportunity to show you how it looked about 80 years ago. It's just a touch different today, isn't it? While the landscaping had yet to take its place in 1929, Buckingham Fountain and the general layout of the park are clear. The Art Institute is in place and looks exceptionally lonely, and while......

Head 300 miles south to The Creation Museum and you may be dazzled by their Because The Bible Said So, That’s Why! explanation of life’s origins. That prospect is too much for The Field Museum. On Friday they open Darwin, a new traveling exhibition focused on the man and scientist considered the creationists’ biggest gadfly. Now a household name, Charles Darwin is remembered primarily for publishing Origin of Species and Descent of Man, the most......

The State House passed legislation on Tuesday designed to bring Illinois into compliance with a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by limiting the amount of sales an Illinois winery can directly ship to a customer to 12 cases a year. The 5-4 decision in Granholm v. Heald ruled that laws in Michigan and New York permitting the direct sale and shipping of wine produced in state to customers while prohibiting out-of-state wineries from doing the......

Last night, North Side/North Shore Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss her participation in the House Hunger Caucus' Food Stamp Challenge. After accidentally introducing her as Jane (and insisting on calling her such for the rest of the evening, not wanting to admit an error), Colbert dished out his usual satire, suggesting that the food stamp allotment be decreased to $2 to combat obesity. Although she had some difficulty getting......

What happens when you remove all the cars from Lake Shore Drive? It gets filled with bikes. Thousands of bikes. Even with a little drizzle enveloping the skyline. And what fills the absence of auto noise and noxious emissions? The sweet smell of the lake, clicking of gears, the squeaks of bicycle chains, the voices of toddlers being pulled along by their fathers and mothers as they ask, “How much longer until the pancakes?” But......

Growing up off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, we've seen our share of stingrays, unfortunately most still had their barbs, so touching them wasn't something advised. With their barbs removed, you can see, and touch, these graceful creatures at Stingray Bay Brookfield Zoo, First Avenue and 31st Street in Brookfield. Tickets are only $2. We were out of town last year for the Bike the Drive event, but we plan to make it there......

Nearly all of us agree that Frank Kruesi was a big DB that couldn't keep the CTA from being in a continuous state of CF always leaving everyone going WTF? And it was with great hope that Chicagoist saw Ron Huberman come on board with promises of administrative cuts and just not being Frank Kruesi. However, over at Time Out Chicago, our old pal, Scott Smith, posted that, yet again, the CTA is threatening fare......

Besides the random coyote or bunny, we rarely see wildlife roaming free among the streets of Chicago. Nearly everyday we fly (ok, well, mostly crawl) up and down Lake Shore Drive, nary a worry that a deer will make its way across. Honestly, that thought had never crossed our mind until we heard that three deer made a mad dash across Lake Shore Drive Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, two of the three died after being struck......

Cool Wedding Venues?...

We use the CTA Trip Planner any time we don't know the best way to get around in the city, so we're the first to say that we're happy it exists. The only thing that's always bugged us about it, though, is when you know you're relatively close to a train and all you get is bus routes. You look out the window into a dreary/snowy/winter mixed/rainy/cold day and sigh. Sometimes you'd just rather walk......

Motorola settled a sex discrimination suit right before Ed Zander was supposed to testify. If ComEd can raise your rates, People's Gas can too. U of I has scaled back an MBA scholarship program for veterans. Four people, including a firefighter, were hospitalized after a fire at 3550 N. Lake Shore Drive. Two women were killed in Gary when a South Shore train hit their SUV. The historic Montgomery Ward Catalog House on the......

Despite what some people think, we've lived here long enough to know when a cabbie is starting to give us the runaround. And now we just nip it in the bud. We call out the Lower Wacker route before they start to pull some other crap. We tell them to take Ashland instead of going all the way east to Lake Shore Drive. But there's one thing we have never been really strong on —......

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's hoping you all get a bunch of candy hearts and Garfield valentines stuffed into the basket taped to your desk, if you make it to work that is. Commuters from the South Side will have to deal with closures on Lake Shore Drive from 39th Street to 57th Street that could last until 8 a.m. This also affects the No. 2, 6, X28, 14, and 170 buses. UPDATE — Never mind.......

Another weekend, another chance to get into trouble: For the third week in a row on the Blotter, multiple teens died in a car crash this weekend. Nine young people, ages 14 through 23, packed themselves into a four-door sedan in Oswego early Sunday morning. The driver and only non-teen, 23-year-old Sandra Vasquez, slammed into a utility pole, killing four passengers and injuring the rest. Vasquez has been charged with driving under the influence. The......

It’s the beginning of the year, and that means it’s time for architectural institution Preservation Chicago to unveil its picks of the seven most endangered buildings in the city, colloquially known as the Chicago 7. We’re always interested to see what buildings, structures or districts the little-organization-that-could deems worthy of its annual list. The finalists: North Avenue Bridge. We mistakenly believed this was the bridge someone asked Chicagoist about last week, but 'tis not the......

When we start getting a little crazy from family overload we find it is best to get out, go to a show or meet up with some friends. We thought we would make it a little easier for you this weekend, here a few things going on around town. As always, feel free to add more events in the comments section. On Christmas Eve, entrance into the Museum of Science and Industry is free. Their......

The Sun-Times is reporting that Oprah is moving out of her Water Tower Place condo to a new apartment a couple of blocks away on East Lakeshore Drive. Sale price: $6.2 million. A couple of thoughts: 1. First of all, we thought that Oprah lived at that curvy tower across from Navy Pier. The fact that she lived at Water Tower Place was news to us. A quick search for "oprah lives" on Flickr doesn't......

Thanksgiving is coming, and for all of us who eat meat, that means turkey. Last year Chicagoist had our parents come visit, and we found ourselves a little unprepared. This was our first time in charge, and we hadn't really thought through the whole "cooking dinner for ourselves" part of the equation. Because of this lack of planning, you could have seen us at any number of grocery stores, looking for mid-sized, organic, fresh turkeys......

If you live or work in the Loop, you may have noticed a whole bunch of military helicopters zipping around Hutchesen field this week. That was Bush's advance team, warming up for his afternoon fundraiser today for struggling candidates Peter Roskam and David McSweeny. He's expected to pulling about $500,000 for those two, but many suspect that Bush is also going to be shoring up Dennis Hastert. Chicagoist always likes a fun distraction during the......