Make your own Obama logo. This isn't an endorsement. Think of this more as a challenge. Get creative. more ›

The clock is ticking for Diann Burns, one of Chicago's top-paid news anchors. WBBM announced yesterday that starting April 21, six months before her $2 million contract is up, they're replacing Burns for the 5pm weekday news with California anchor Anne State. Burns will continue to coanchor the 6pm and 10pm newscasts with Rob Johnson, and State will report for the 10pm broadcast as well. more ›

Virgin Atlantic is offering free flowers, cards, cab rides and movie tickets in honor of Valentine's Day. You can grab flowers or cards at the NBC Building, Ogilvie Building, Union Station and the LaSalle Metra Train Station between 3:30 and 7:30 tonight. For free movie tickets, you have to text VPORT312 to 51684, and it'll text you back a Fandango code. Word. more ›

A native Chicagoan, it's no wonder that Bob Balaban was bitten early on by the movie bug, since his family is the Balaban of the Balaban & Katz movie threater chain. What's more surprising is how many hats he's worn. He's a character actor royale, appearing in films by everyone from Woody Allen and Christopher Guest to Terry Zwigoff and Robert Altman. (But he's probably best known for playing the NBC exec who's obsessed with Elaine in five episodes of "Seinfeld"). He's also a children's book author and a filmmaker. more ›

An Austin man was killed in a car crash Wednesday, just hours before his home and business went up in flames. James Phillips called 911 yesterday morning from behind the wheel, saying he was having an asthma attack. Around 10:30, he lost control of his Escalade, crashed into a pole and died. Then nine hours later, his barbecue restaurant and catering business Phillips Ribs and his home above the restaurant on 5048 W Chicago Ave on caught fire. more ›

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Who doesn't love going to the eye doctor--so many cool tools and bright lights, and the "what's better, one or two?" thing is like a quiz you can't fail. Best! Thank jeebus we never went to the Myers-Wyse Center for the Eye in Skokie, though. Too bad for Roman Tesfaye. She did go there and got way more (less?) than an eye exam. more ›

Last week, Governor Blagojevich's amendatory veto--"improvement" was it?--that seniors be able to ride the CTA for free made our brains explode with both shock and dismay. Shock that he waited until the last minute to unveil this idea, and dismay that it might derail (zing!) the transit funding plans the state legislature so laboriously hammered out. And then today, this treat: He never discussed it with Ron Huberman or anyone else from the various branches of the RTA. more ›

Barack Obama took the first step in cooling off the war of words between his campaign and Hillary Clinton's. "I've been a little concerned about the tenor of the campaign," Obama said in a press conference called yesterday evening in Nevada. "We've got too much at stake at this time in our history to be engaging in this kind of silliness," Obama said. "I suspect that other candidates may feel the same way." more ›

State lawmakers are back in session, attempting to solve the little nightmare we call transit fundin. Things...are not looking so good, though. What's the governor doing? Watch for yourself! [AP] more ›

KISS-FM's "Radio Boy" Michael Wawrzyniak has been charged with indecent solicitation of a child for allegedly trying to arrange a meeting for with a 13-year-old in Carol Stream. It wasn't a 13-year-old, though. It was a cop. more ›

Artur Shehu is still on the lam, but he was charged yesterday with two counts of first-degree murder for killing his parents. Syrja Shehu, 66, and his wife Safo, 67, were each shot once in the head, and were found dead in their Villa Park home early Monday morning, after Artur placed a call to the police. He was gone by the time police arrived. more ›

Deer heart? Human heart? Page out of Snow White? Someone found a possibly human heart in the woods at Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood. Eeeew. [S-T] more ›

We're referring of course to the Golden Globes ceremony, which has been axed because of the writer's strike. It was announced today that Instead of the long-winded, smarmy fashion show we've seen in the past, the Sunday NBC telecast will instead be a bare-bones press conference padded out with lotsa clips (all the better to separate the commercials with, my dear). Says Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: "We are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007's outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television." Oh, the sacrifice! Yup, we here in the Chicagoist offices are shedding tears right alongside you. more ›

Think reaaaaal carefully about what fashion mistakes you're going to make on bank-robbing day. Because those choices? Well, those choices become who we are. Take the case of the "Kangol Bandit." more ›

Police announced today that they believe Anu Solanki is alive and with a male companion. Investigators used her cell phone records to connect her to 23-year-old Karan Jani of California. Solanki, who hasn't been heard from since Monday, was in contact with Jani several times the day she disappeared, and police say they think the two are in a rental car. If you see Solanki or Jani, give the Cook County Sheriff's office a jingle (847-294-4733)--she's still a missing person. And if you have a USC log-in, please let us know what Jani's Facebook profile says. more ›

The thousands of Chicagoans who have received citations for refusing to wear an ugly head set while driving may feel a bit at ease today. The Law Offices of Blake Horwitz is filing a class action lawsuit against the city, Mayor Daley, and several police officers for illegally ticketing thousands of drivers in violation of the cell phone ban since its inception over two years ago. more ›

Patrick Daley may be shipping out, but not before he dabbles a little in the family business. No, not politics, silly: Patronage and scandal. Hotcha! more ›

Check, Please! just launched an interactive video-based website today where visitors may send in restaurant recommendations and audition for the show. The site also contains over 300 reviews from the show's run, the one-minute segments that began running on NBC 5 on Tuesdays and Fridays (NBC 5 is a partner in the site). Now you can look up recent reviews in case you missed a recent review or just want to view a truncated... more ›

We've been playing with Hulu, FOX and News Corporation's (FOX, MySpace, etc.) online video-on-demand service, for a few days now and admit we're pretty impressed. We've been missing eps of The Office, Heroes, and The Simpsons, and since that feud with Apple blew up, our only chance of seeing them was crappy streaming video on network sites. That stuff always stalls and crashes our computer. So imagine our pleasure when we started watching Hulu's high... more ›

Today's Headline: Peapod Caught Delivering Alcohol to Teens. We don't want to say anything to besmirch Peapod's good name — if it weren't for their timely deliveries, there is no telling what we would be attempting to eat out of our fridge. However, it seems like our favorite grocery folk been delivering alcohol to teens without checking for ID. more ›

NBC announced on Monday that they are bumping the Bears - Seahawks game that was scheduled for the November 18 Sunday Night Football has been bumped in favor of the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills. Chicagoist really can't fault NBC for this move. While we Bears fans feel obligated to watch their games -- no matter how ugly -- we really don't want the rest of the country to see the sorry state of... more ›