It's hard to believe we haven't heard anything about our favorite former NBC 5 anchor in almost three months. That all changes today as we get psyched for tonight's episode of Law & Order. America's favorite never-ending crime drama tackles the story of "a reporter who'll do anything to get her way." There's also a man whose suspected of killing his wife and said reporter appearing in a revealing bikini...yeah, sounds like our Amy. Check......

Paging Dick Wolf. This case is fucked up. Ari Squire, 39, didn't die two weeks ago when he was crushed by his truck. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday. The man crushed in Lake Barrington on February 23 was actually 20-year-old Justin Newman, and it wasn't an accident. Police say Squire murdered Newman in an attempt to fake his own death, collect his life insurance policy and steal the younger man's......

Photo by Little Pretty Make your own Obama logo. This isn't an endorsement. Think of this more as a challenge. Get creative. Local federal judge and U of C law professor Mark R. Filip was named deputy attorney general today. Hey, don't forget, it's No Cussing Week. And just when we were going to say "holy shit." A pregnant woman was injured when a 50-pound piece of concrete fell off a city viaduct and......

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. CBS 2 continues to lag far behind ABC 7's......

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. If flowers and fun aren't your bag, you can also download Suze Ormen's......

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......

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......

A two-story, 100-year-old church burned down this morning. More than 100 firefighters were dispatched to the Emmanuel Temple, an African Methodist Episcopal Church on the 500 block of North LeClaire, this morning, and while they were able to save the house next door, the church itself is pretty much destroyed. The steeple and bell tower are intact, but the roof and sanctuary are gone. One firefighter injured his shoulder, but everyone else is fine; the......

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. Tesfaye alleges in a lawsuit that the an assistant at the practice......

Photo by P2wy 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......

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." Acknowledging the......

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] Construction workers found what appears to be a human skeleton in an abandoned house on the 4500 block of South Oakenwald. [Where?] An autopsy is scheduled for today. [NBC 5] Four of Jon Burge's torture victims will share a $19.8 million city settlement. [S-T]......

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. Wawryzniak, of 1720 S. Michigan Ave, was arrested Friday "without incident." According to Chicago Suburban News, [Carol Stream Deputy Police Chief Kevin] Orr said the charges were filed after an “extensive” online investigation. Orr said detectives were solicited......

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. Artur's car was later found by a North Side golf......

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] How much do CTA employees make? Ron Huberman: $198,000. Bus and rail operators: $34,240.96 [S-T] RIP, Whad'ya Know?. WBEZ won't carry the Wisconsin-based show anymore, though you can still listen to the podcast. [Trib] It's gonna rain all night, so bring your umbrella. A Chicago man has been charged......

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......

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." Chicago's branch of the FBI is asking for all our help IDding the gentleman pictured above, who they say is responsible for at least four bank robberies in Chicagoland since November. He's at least guilty of one crime of fashion. That hat is fugs.......

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......

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. Apparently, the law required the city to post signs......

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! Young Daley and his cousin Robert Vanecko invested in Municipal Sewer Services, a company the City contracted for millions of dollars of work, and they both cashed out with a profit. The Daley Administration keeping it in the family is unsavory if not exactly earth shattering, but this gets even......

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......

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......

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. We noticed the first time we ordered alcohol from Peapod that there was no online measure......

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......

Three men died last night after the sailboat they were on in Lake Michigan capsized in Indiana waters near 95th and Lakeshore. A fourth man survived, but all were in the water for close to 45 minutes, and spokesman for the fire department says the rescue was exceptionally difficult. Authorities still aren't sure what the four men were doing out on the lake, given that the National Weather Service had issued a small craft advisory.......

Anyone walking out an about today surely came across the fans of the USC Trojans. The Trojans play Notre Dame today in South Bend, and it seems like many of their fans decided to make a three-day weekend and fit in some shopping in Chicago. While walking down Michigan Avenue, Chicagoist could barely keep count the number of people sporting crimson and gold. The two teams will meet for the 79th time today with Notre......

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out......

Officer Jerome Finnigan was arrested today for planning a murder for hire. He wanted to kill another former Chicago police officer who might have testified against him. Finnigan is already facing charges of kidnapping and robbery, and he's a defendant in a civil suit as well, stemming from when he ... kidnapped and robbed Vance Estes. Estes spent 8 months in jail on bogus charges, and now he's suing. Finnigan allegedly began planning the contract......

With the optimism of a glass half-full, the American Gladiator LIVES! And the spirit of the American Gladiator can now live within you. But we can’t grab the Funions and park on the sofa in front of the TV just yet. In 2008, NBC will bring back the weekly series, originally aired from 1989 to 1996. Episodes still run in syndication on ESPN Classic. If you want to channel a Gladiator, NBC will host a......

Around 9:42 this morning, an armed robber, believed to be male, attempted to rob a First Commercial Bank branch at 6945 N. Clark St. According to the Tribune, something went wrong and the robbery escalated to a hostage situation. The hostages were freed around 1:30 p.m.; none of them were harmed. No one is saying whether the gunman is still in the bank, or has been arrested. Raw video from the scene is available via......