Of the seven deadly sins, the one CNN associated with Chicago was gluttony. more ›

Chicago News Cooperative will cease operations on February 26. more ›

Between his column, his pop culture coverage, and his work for the blog Media Decoder, New York times columnist David Carr has become somewhat of an authority on the ever-evolving state of modern media. more ›

Who rides bikes in Chicago? An article in today's New York Times on the City's infrastructure investments makes it seem like two-wheelers are unique to the North Side and Loop. more ›

Here's a lede you don't often get to write: "Dateline - Batavia, Illinois: The definition of 'reality' was challenged today..." Okay, so that might be over the top, but based on the news coming out of Fermilab recently, perhaps only by a little. more ›

Mark Bittman, author of the long-running "Minimalist" column in the New York Times, has hung up his chef's apron. After 13 years of creating recipes (many of which we have adapted for use in our columns), Bittman has turned to politics full-time. While we're sad to see him leave the kitchen, his eloquent and informed voice will be a welcome addition to the world of food politics. On Tuesday, Bittman released his first column, a "Food Manifesto for the Future." It includes such radical proposals as abolishing the USDA, outlawing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and mandating truth in labeling. These all raise important questions about the relationship between the government and the food-consuming individual, which all boil down to: Do we have a right to eat federally-subsizided junk food until we fall over dead? more ›

On the eve the publication of that damning New York Times profile into the corporate culture at Tribune Co. under Sam Zell, CEO Randy MIchaels, the man at the focus of the exposé, sent out an email to Tribune employees urging them to "ignore the noise" that would be generated from the piece that painted the actions of executives brought in after Zell's debt-heavy leveraged buyout as juvenile, at best. more ›

This Ebert tweet was a riff on Phil Rosenthal's post yesterday about a sexually suggestive and vulgar memo sent out to Tribune Co. employees from chief innovation officer Lee Abrams, nearly a week after the New York Times expose on the noxious corporate culture at Tribune Co. under Sam Zell and Randy Michaels (the normally tone deaf Abrams has since apologized for the email). more ›

Today's New York Times has a pull-no-punches, just-the-facts expose on Sam Zell's disastrous ownership of Tribune Co. The article posits that, as gross of a miscalculation the heavy borrowing Zell used to broker the purchase was, the decision to bring in a group of aging frat house types led by current CEO Randy Michaels to steer the company into a new era of workplace blunt talk may have been even more damaging to the company, from the perspectives of both business and morale. Comparing what Zell, Michaels and their lieutenants have done since arriving to Nero fiddling while Rome burned is not out of line. more ›

The New York Times put together a travel piece showcasing a whirlwind "36 hours in Chicago" in honor of Mayor Daley's retirement, but oops, instead of giving the assignment to their local folks at the Chicago News Cooperative, they left it in the hands of a New Yorker who just couldn't quite get things right: more ›

Three of the most recognizable features on the skyline west of the Loop are the smokestacks from the Fisk and Crawford Generating stations; ancient coal-fired power plants that most agree are blight on the City’s green image. They represent the Chicago's biggest carbon pollution sources and a health threat to this big burgh's populace. But even as a succession of loud voices have called for the plants to clean up or close down, these Teflon polluters remain operating in the places they were built a century ago. What gives them such staying power when similar facilities have been eliminated in so many other American cities? This week the Chicago News Cooperative points a finger at the twin pillars of the city’s political scene---money and the Mayor---but notes out that change could be coming. more ›

If you have some time in your back-to-work schedule to pack in another long read today, check out the New York Times' look at the Obama version of the war on terror. It's a long discussion of the evolution of President Obama's struggles to find his way through the country's ongoing fight against extremism, but at the very front and center is a question: Was someone planning an assassination attempt at Obama's inauguration? more ›

We pondered the new Chicago section of the NY Times and even reminded you yesterday and...now it's here. I actually picked up a copy this morning but haven't had time to read it yet. However, lucky for me (and all of you, right?) you can also access the content online here. Besides the CNC's NY Times content, the site also features Chicago-centric headlines from other sources as well as links to other helpful Chicago sites (including us!). Of course, if you're reading this then you probably already know that stuff. more ›

Media junkies of Chicago, get ready. Tomorrow, the first edition of the New York Times featuring the Chicago-centric section (well, two pages, anyway) produced by the newly-formed Chicago News Cooperative will hit newsstands. The CNC will provide the Chicago content for the local edition, which will appear on Fridays and Sundays. Since the initial announcement, the CNC, already heavy on former Tribune folks, managed to poach a few other Tribune writers, including City Hall reporter Dan Mihalopoulos. In the words of Gawker, "New York Times Hires Gang Who Killed Chicago Tribune to Kill Tribune.” However, Gawker also insists that "The Times has always had a very good foothold in Chicago because there is no local alternative for the sort of people who read the Times--curious, smart, and not invested in Chicago's bottomless Second City status anxiety." more ›

While we knew the New York Times was planning a local edition of its paper for the Chicago area, details emerged yesterday about the paper's specific plans. The news for the Chicago-centric paper will be handled by a group called Chicago News Cooperative. The CNC will include former Tribune editor James O'Shea and James Warren; the advisory board will be chaired by journalist Peter Osnos and another Tribune editor, Ann Marie Lipinski, is a board member. The group will receive a bulk of its funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation while also receiving assistance from WTTW. In fact, the CNC will start life as a non-profit affiliate of Window to the World Communications which happens to be WTTW's parent company. The Cooperative is also in talks with WBEZ for potential future collaboration. Two pages of Chicago-related news will appear twice a week (Friday and Sunday) in copies of the New York Times distributed in the Chicago area starting November 20. more ›

• The White House responded today to the video footage of the brawl in which 16-year-old Derrion Albert was killed.
• The New York Times has announced plans for a local edition in Chicago.
• The investor who bought the city's large old main post office has missed a deadline, putting the deal in jeopardy.

Heirloom tomatoes are finally starting to roll into farmers markets throughout the city. With that comes some pretty outstanding cocktail recipes. First, there's the always busy Adam Seger of Nacional 27. Seger's monthly cocktail class was the subject of a cover story in the New York Times style section yesterday. The Paper of Record also published Seger's Heirloom Tomato Mojitonico recipe for Anthony and Rob to try at home. more ›

A few days a go, new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Rocco Landesman couldn’t tell you whether there was theater in Peoria, Illinois and now, he’s probably going to have to visit to remove the taste of shoe from his mouth. In his first interview since his confirmation as chairman last Friday, Landesman told The New York Times, “I don’t know if there’s a theater in Peoria, but I would bet that it’s not as good as Steppenwolf or the Goodman.” more ›

Eater.com is counting down the days until New York Times restaurant critic and "baby bulimic" Frank Bruni files his last review for the Paper of Record, going so far as to speculate who would succeed Bruni and prognosticating the odds of some favorites. more ›

Sky Full of Bacon 11: A Better Fish from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.
• Mike Gebert visits Carl Galvan and Supreme Lobster Company, one of the country's largest fish purveyors, about the volume of seafood they sell while maintaining sustainable pracitces. [Sky Full of Bacon]
• Phil Vettel and the Trib's resident "Mayor McCheese" Kevin Pang debate pizza pie slices versus the familiar square party cut. Sorry, Kevin: we're siding with Phil on this one. [Tribune]
• Jennifer Olvera gets canning tips from Paul Virant. [Sun-Times]

Remember the fanfare surrounding ESPNChicago's launch a few months back? Well, there's more ruckus now with as the New York Times reports that in June, ESPNChicago became the number one local sports website according to internet tracker comScore with 590,000 unique visitors in the month over the second-place Tribune who had 455,000 unique visitors to its sports section. All of this has ESPN looking at expanding its city-centric collection of sites to include New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. more ›

• North Shore Distillery's Sonja Kassebaum writes a loving profile of graham elliot beverage manager/head mixologist Lynn House (pictured). [Thinking of Drinking]
• Baconfest news: the Publican is hosting the VIP Pro cookoff the day before the fest. [Baconfestchicago.com]
• Mike Sula cheers the return of kaiseki master Seijero Matsumoto. [Food Chain]

The New York Times ran an article yesterday where they looked at the history of the Gyro in America, including "Sweet Jesus that's disgusting... and tasty!" video footage of the life cycle of a gyros cone, from birth in Kronos Gyros's Southwest side plant to drunken 5 a.m. takeout orders made across the country. more ›

While it reveals nothing new about the man behind the music, the New York Times has a good profile of Jeff Tweedy in today's edition. more ›

The New York Times is reporting this afternoon that, "according to lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year," Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids during the 2003 season in which he was playing for the Cubs. According to the story, it seems Sosa's positive test came from the same round that snared Yankees slugger/slapper Alex Rodriguez. more ›

We Midwesterners are a simple people. Fancy restaurants? Nah. We just like a few quality ingredients and a friendly, corn-fed waitstaff. So it's nice of the New York Times to notice one of our favorite Wicker Park restaurants, Mado, a review of which appeared on Sunday. more ›

New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni reviews L2O in today's edition of the Paper of Record. The true meat of the review lies not in Bruni's take on the food — he says Laurent Gras has "deftly filtered many worthy influences" — but in forecasting its long-term health. L2O has not been packing them in of late, and Bruni notes that gras' partner Rich melman of Lettuce Entertain You holds "plenty of moderately priced, unglamorous restaurants to support such divas as Tru and Everest." And L2O. more ›

Musical theater has been on our minds lately because frankly, we’re having trouble finding it in Chicago. Not just any musical theater - new work that originates in the second city. Sure Wicked had a nice run but the show began with an out-of-town try-out in San Francisco. Jersey Boys is still going strong, but the show’s ticket prices don’t really appeal to the masses. National tours come through all the time, most rrecently with Rent opening this week. But let’s face it: it’s just a cheap ploy to make a lot of money. (Original cast members Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal are way too old to play struggling 20 year olds in the East Village.) And to add insult to injury, each one of those shows is based on some prior piece of work. more ›

It may be another couple of weeks before you can lay your hot little hands on an artwork copy of Andrew Bird's Noble Beast, but the Bird Herd wants you to be plenty familiar with what our hometown whistle blower has been up to before then. Building on an already carefully-calculated career that hit a high point when Bird drew 13,000 people to a free show at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion in September (and incited a sweaty dance riot and some bra-throwing), the diminutive troubadour finally seems poised to go from cult hero to bona fide pop star. His decidedly un-meteoric rise was recently chronicled in the New York Times and the slight, angular 35-year-old will soon loop, lull and pluck the shit out of David Letterman's stage. more ›

Have you ever heard a song by a band and totally been turned on to that band, rushing out to buy their record, listening to it, and then excitedly telling your friend all about your "discovery", saying, "Hey, have you ever heard of this band called The Rolling Stones??? They ROCK!" only to have your heart crushed when your friend tells you that band's old news? (Tankboy has to do it to me all the time.) We hate to be "that friend," but... more ›