Todd Stroger, today is not your day. The panel he appointed to analyze Cook County healthcare announced today that an independent board should take over because the County has so royally fucked it up. Oh, and his tax plan ain't so hot either; the $4 per phone line is actually illegal. Two people were arrested for stealing vases from Chapel Hill Cemetery in Oakbrook Terrace. Loehmanns! On State Street! The old lady in all......

Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand are on the move, again. The Tru masterminds, flush with the overwhelming success of their multiple restaurant concepts in the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Wheeling, now have plans for restaurants in an Intercontinental Hotel being built in Rosemont and a Hyatt in Schaumburg currently undergoing a makeover. The pair's company, Cenitare Restaurants Ltd., and their hotel development partner, Oakbrook Terrace-based the Harp Group Inc., are also looking long-term......

Blurring the line between city and suburb, a proposal has been sent to Evanston officials for what would be the largest building in the suburbs. The building, a 49-story condo building, would be situated at Church Street, Orrington Avenue and Sherman Avenue. The triangular shaped lot currently has a two story retail building which would be torn down for the project. The project will no doubt have its opponents, when asked by the Tribune if......

You know the off-duty cop who beat up the bartender? Well, a second cop may have tried to silence the bartender. Last week a pregnant woman waiting for an El train got dizzy and fell off the platform onto the tracks. Two brave men jumped down and lifted her back up to the platform. Luckily the train was able to stop in time and no one got hurt. Tweeter is closing 4 local stores.......

RIP Gerald Ford. Don't like eating alone, but family and friends all live far away? Eat out together virtually. We always wondered who went to Cosi at night to drink. The Deerfield-based restaurant announced they'll be refocusing on food, adding more dinner items and ditching the nighttime bar. A 24-year-old former model was beaten to death in her home in Oakbrook Terrace on Christmas night. Not much else is known in this mysterious murder......