The political wheels of Illinois never seem to stop turning. State Rep. Mark Kirk - also the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate - had once stated on his website that he was given the Navy's Intellgence Officer of the Year Award (which is one of its highest honors that is awarded to one person per year) in 1999, for his service during NATO's conflict with Serbia. However, after being tipped off by someone from the Giannoulias campaign, an inquiry made by the Washington Post reports Kirk has never held such a title granted by the Navy. The Washington Post also reveals that Kirk has acknowledged his mistake and revised his biography on his website, in which he states that he was actually given a different award: more ›

Twitter no-no's have been all the rage this week. First, there was the local woman who was sued for defamation by her property company and now it appears as if U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, who recently announced his campaign for U.S. Senate, may have violated some military rules via his Twitter account. Kirk, a Naval Reservist, is under scrutiny from The Capitol Fax for a pair of tweets that went up on his campaign twitter account while he was on active duty and may have violated rules. He revealed his location, which violates military rules, and because the twitter account is part of his U.S. Senate campaign, he may be in trouble because military rules prohibit certain political activities while on active duty. A Kirk spokesman told Rich Miller at Capitol Fax that it wasn't Kirk but rather a staffer who posted those tweets on Kirk's account. The Navy told Miller they are, "going to be looking into the matter.” [via ChicagoNow] more ›

Northern Illinois fell to Navy last night, 16-0, and likely fell out of a bowl. At 6-6, the Huskies are bowl eligible but are also in the middle of the MAC, which doesn't have enough bowl bids to go around. It was a defensive struggle with neither team topping 300 total yards and Huskie quarterback Chandler Harnish throwing two interceptions which both led to Navy scores. Coach Jerry Kill, finishing off his first season with the team, said, "The game comes down to little mistakes and you can't make those against the Naval Academy. We moved the ball but we couldn't finish and that was the difference." more ›

Quarterback C.J. Bacher tossed two third quarter touchdowns to give Northwestern a lead over Michigan they wouldn't relinquish on their way to a 21-14 win over the Wolverines. Bacher finished with 198 yards passing and two touchdowns with two interceptions. It was an ugly weather day as precipitation switched between rain and snow, forcing Michigan to go to the ground which wasn't enough as they found themselves looking at the school's first-ever eight loss season. As for the Wildcats, they're enjoying their first eight win season since 2000, which also happens to be the last time they beat Michigan (a crazy 54-51 overtime win). They close out the season next week in Evanston against Illinois. more ›

• The Cubs beat the Sox, 11 to 7. Look for Wrigleyville to be a drunk fest tonight. [Trib]
• A home-built airplane crashed and burned after taking off at Aurora Municipal Airport. The pilot is okay. [Trib]
• Daley addressed graduates at Northwestern University, and encouraged their active participation in helping Chicago get the 2016 Olympics. [S-T]
• A naval recruit was struck and killed by a Metra train in Highwood early this morning. He was crossing the tracks at an undesignated crossing. [Trib]
• Two more buyers have emerged for the Cubs. [Trib]
• The Sun-Times has published a special report on violnece in the city. [S-T] more ›

Police say two sailors kidnapped a cab driver, carjacked his cab and drove it around Gurnee before setting the car on fire. Aaron Couch, 21, and Terry Gappa, 20, both face felony counts of theft of services, assault, theft of a vehicle and criminal damage to property. more ›