Results tagged “nearnorth”

You know what today is, don’t you? It’s golden beer’s 165th birthday! Yes, 165 years ago today, on Oct. 5, 1842, Joseph Groll, a young brewmaster in Plzen, Czech Republic, discovered a technique for brewing golden beer, otherwise known as the pilsner, or Pilsner Urquell, which is the brand name now. Prior to 1842, most beers had a darker, murkier consistency and a sweeter taste. Lore has it that the citizens of Pilsen were fed...

Duplicate shootings in triplicate? At least three people are shot and wounded early today; one critically, during a party at a private motorcycle club, on Chicago's South Side. AND ... Three people are shot and wounded this morning near the Cabrini-Green public housing project on the Near North Side. Calm down, Chicagoistas, they're definitely NOT talking about Vince. (Christopher) Vaughn, the guy who went berserk and killed his family gave up on hanging out...

It's been another spring week of wacky weather here in in the Windy City. And just like the sunshine, our elected leaders have been coming out to shine. Let's take a look back at some of the more notable events thus far: Black Business Group Doesn't Like Blago's Tax Plan. The Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), a group representing African-American businesses has reviewed the governor's proposed budget plan, and they've given it what...

Last week ended with 144 aldermanic candidates having filed nominating petitions, among them 47 incumbents. It has been said that there may be a record number of people running for alderman this year. While we aren't certain of the factual accuracy of that statement, we are sure that there are a lot of people running this year. Several races have piqued our interest, in particular the race in the 32nd Ward. In that race, there...

As you listen to the heat mercifully click on again, perhaps ushered in by the tell-tale blonks and cloinks of the radiator, you might be inclined to give in to the idea that winter is already here. That, once again, the icy chill will force you to wear a jacket over your Halloween costume. We know -- sigh.

Lately, there have been so many stories in the news that are so horrific or absurd, that we're beginning to wonder if there really is such a phenomenon as the "End Times," or if we're just living in an issue of The Onion. This story qualifies as both and has left us completely reeling, baffled, nonplussed ... feel free to fill in a overwhelmingly clueless adjective of indiscriminate origin. Ruth Koening, an 86-year-old woman living...

Yo Chicago pointed us to X/O, a newly approved condo development in the South Loop. The site calls X/O “original and artistic,” saying designer Lucien Lagrange “should stay the hell away from the Gold Coast” and describing his Near North projects as “dull, vintage-looking schmaltz.” Ouch. So, it’s a bit of a backhanded compliment, but a compliment nonetheless. We like Lagrange’s description of the towers as “dancing,” and it would have been nice to see...

* Before you start commenting, we're just having fun with the topic, we know that Chicago isn't called the Windy City because of the actual wind.

Mickey Segal is one of those guys that just about everyone in Chicago politics has brushed shoulders with at some time or another. And for that reason, the little federal trial focusing on his operation of Near North Insurance Brokerage, and what happened to about $20 million of state regulated company receipts (those insurance types have lots of rules they have to follow) is kind of a big deal. How come? Well, it seems that rather than charging a regulated full price for various insurance premiums (again, those rules), Mickey allegedly charged less-than-full-price for a bunch of people, including Aldermen and Members of Congress. The funny thing about the discounts is that apparently he didn�t always tell people that they were getting a discount. Oh, and he forgot to pay his taxes too. But what we really like is the $220,000 Segal allegedly channeled from company premiums into prostitute bills, $3,000 for a young, lady friend�s Lasik eye surgery, and some other plane tickets from Florida for some other young, lady friends.