There are many things that distinguish the great city of Chicago from other metropolises across the United States. Though many that visit the our shores immediately gravitate towards our most commercially driven symbols like Wrigley Field, our signature deep dish pizza and the startling view into the great beyond from the top of the iconic Sears/Willis tower. The events that punctuate the seasons, like the Taste of Chicago, the Blues Festival and the Monday night Downtown Sound free concert series are truly the events that have made a deeper impact on those that walk our streets each day. Sometimes we take for granted how lucky we are to have such rich and diverse cultural events here, and over the past twenty years our lives are much richer by the one-woman machine that both founded and headed the Department of Cultural Affairs: Lois Weisberg. more ›

Chicago is losing one of its biggest — arguably its biggest — cultural advocates at the end of the month with the retirement of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lois Weisberg. The 85-year-old Weisberg is best known for organizing the wildly successful "Cows on Parade" public art exhibit of more than a decade ago, but her legacy runs deeper than that. Weisberg was also the driving force behind the Chicago Cultural Center, Taste of Chicago, Gallery 37, most of the major music festivals along the lakefront and neighborhood festivals throughout the city, and Friends of the Parks. Weisberg's knack for networking was the subject of a Malcolm Gladwell New Yorker profile. In short, Chicago could still conceivably be a cow town without Lois Weisberg. more ›

WBEZ's Jim DeRogatis has been keeping tabs on the recent layoffs at the Department of Cultural Affairs as it prepares to consolidate with the Mayor's Office of Special Events and declares that Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lois Weisberg has been left with "a shell of a department, and raise questions about whether the city will able to present much-lauded events such as the World Music Festival, SummerDance, and Downtown Sound/New Music Mondays at the level they’ve been offered, if at all, in 2011 and beyond." more ›

While you were out watching football, hitting the farmers market, or squeezing in a weekend getaway before the cooler weather of fall arrives, there was still plenty happening here in the city and here's some of our weekend coverage you might have missed. more ›

With the city hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, fewer police on the street to battle crime, and a transit system on the verge of another round of service cuts and fare hikes, the City Council is tackling the tough issue plaguing our city: suburbanites claiming the best seats at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. During the Council's budget hearings yesterday, it was Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) who spoke up, according to the Sun-Times. Said Ald. Schulter: more ›