“Four years ago I was locked in a brutal primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Now, she won’t stop drunk-texting me from Cartagena.” more ›

The nation’s largest Catholic university said this week it covers contraception as part of its health care benefit package, amid mounting GOP opposition to an Affordable Care Act provision they say forces the hand of religious institutions. more ›

It looks like President Barack Obama is a card carrying member of the iPhone nation now, because the hippest leader of the free world joined the Instagram photo sharing service this week. The service boast over 15 million users and has taken the art of taking cell phone photos and adding a layer of nostalgia via various filters, thus allowing even the crappiest photographer to create something slightly less crappy. Ah, sentimentality, your powers are strong. more ›

Bill Daley, the current White House chief of staff, opened up about the Obama administration in a recent edition of Politico. more ›

Illinois Republican Representative Joe Walsh plans to sit out President Obama's speech on the economy next Thursday. ABC 7 Chicago reports Walsh will leave the Capitol a few hours before the President's address to a joint session of Congress and return on Friday. Walsh said in a statement he did not want to be a “prop” for the President and he “would rather come home and talk to people who really know what we need to do about job creation.” The tea party darling added that Obama is “abusing” his position as President by calling a joint session, saying “we reserve that for heads of states from dignitaries around the world and presidents in moments in crisis, and monumental moments.” more ›

President Obama laid out his plan for troop withdrawal in Afghanistan last night. more ›

President Obama makes a baby stop crying on the lawn of the White House. Maybe he should hold John Boehner next. more ›

An Indiana woman is selling a handwritten letter from President Obama for $11,000 so she can avoid eviction. more ›

President Barack Obama was scarfing down a hot dog smothered in chili, mustard and onions in Toledo, Ohio, when he delivered the official decree. “You shouldn’t put ketchup on your hot dog,” our mighty leader stated. more ›

When New York Times reporter Janny Scott was reporting on President Obama’s campaign, she stumbled across the intriguing and untold story of Stanley Ann Dunham — Barack Obama’s mother. In 2008, Scott wrote an article about Dunham that she described as “long for a newspaper, but short for a life.” The response was so great that Scott was offered a chance to research Obama’s mother further and write a biography. A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother was released earlier this month, a result of two and a half years of research. Scott interviewed friends and family of Stanley Ann Dunham, read correspondence and archives, and visited the places where Stanley Ann Dunham lived. more ›

Last week President Obama released his long-form birth certificate, telling the press that “We do not have time for this kind of silliness.” Last night he announced to the nation that Osama bin Laden had been killed by Navy SEALS in Pakistan. But over the weekend, he played jokester at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where he cracked wise about Donald Trump, birthers and their conspiracy theories, and the possibility that he might, someday, have to give a speech without the use of a teleprompter. more ›

Last week, we received word that Obama 2012 World Headquarters will be the Prudential Building. Knowing this, we had a feeling Obama's re-election campaign would start up very soon, and there is a general consensus that Obama will announce his run for a second term in office tomorrow. more ›

OK, this much we know is true: the Obama White House is the first to make its own beer. Stories have been bubbling up about White House Honey Ale since it was served at the President’s Superbowl party. And as the beer brew-ha-ha has grown, an array of incorrect details seem to have been conveniently introduced to suit various perspectives: NPR portrayed Barack as a cool home brewer, while FOX implied he was wasting the nation's time futzing with malts and bottles, Irish media reported that the beer was brewed for St. Patrick’s Day and around here there are reports that a new brew would be colored electric green in honor of the holiday's Chicago River tradition. Sigh. They are all wrong. more ›

As if Thanksgiving dinner was not enough of a gut buster, we took our annual family visit to Manny’s Deli yesterday. The line out the door was witness to this growing post-turkey tradition in the City. It was a pretty standard visit---corned beef, kreplach soup, knish---with one notable exception: not a single notable politician in the room. more ›

As with so many cultural events lately, the Andersonville Arts Weekend was slated for cancellation. Luckily, a handful of local businesses swooped in to rescue it. With only a month to plan it, they’ve managed to pull together an impressive line-up, from photographers to painters to potters, who will be displaying their work at coffee shops, restaurants, thrift stores, and the ubiquitous interior design stores on Clark Street between Hollywood and Winnemac. We’re excited about a few of these featured events... more ›

You know, for all the hullabaloo that surrounded the asinine "Burn A Qur'an" day this past weekend, we were initially happy to think that cooler heads prevailed. Of course, we were naive to have thought we'd get through the weekend without incident. There are still ignorant people out there and apparently they left evidence of this over the weekend, leaving a burnt Qur'an outside a Northwest Side Muslim Community Center. The burnt holy book was discovered Sunday afternoon by a pair of teens heading to services at the center, located at 4380 N. Elston. Mohammed Kaiseruddin, a member of the community center's board, told the Tribune [via], "We feel like we've been victimized, that's for sure. When we handle the Quran ourselves ... we treat it with the utmost respect. We never put a copy of the Quran down on the floor." Police are investigating but have no suspects in the incident. more ›

Although many lives were lost, many other lives were changed. The nine year anniversary of 9/11 comes during a time of great political and social controversy. But today at the Pentagon, Obama acknowledged that "this is a time of difficulty for our country, and it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness -- to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common." more ›

Among the many things that Labor Day traditionally signifies in the United States - the end of summer, busting out the black loafers - Labor Day has also signified the traditional beginning of the campaign season. And while congressional GOP leadership have been acting like the campaign season is in full swing of late, President Barack Obama used the bully pulpit of the presidency to kick-off campaign season Monday. For the president's supporters, it's been a rough summer, with what looked two years ago like the chance to change the world dwindling to a forced march to November, a fading hope that a Democratic majority might be retained, at least in the Senate. It was gainst that backdrop, at Milwaukee, WI's Laborfest, the same location Obama kicked off his final run to the 2008 presidential election, that the president announced part of his latest economic package. more ›

We know Obama's approval rating has taken a hit nationally, sinking to the mid-40s recently, but what about here at home in Illinois? It seems a little but not that much better, at least according to a recent Tribune poll. The economy, health care, the oil spill, these factors all seem to be affecting how voters in his home state assess 44's job as we head into the home-stretch before the mid-term election. In the poll of 600 registered Illinois voters conducted within the last two weeks, 51 percent said they approve of the job Obama has done while 39 percent disapproved and 10 percent too busy worrying about how awful the Bears were going to be this season. His approval rating was 62 percent pre-election in 2008 and 59 percent last year in similar polls conducted by the Tribune. Whether or not this translates to a surge in GOP support in the mid-term elections remains to be seen - even as the GOP deals with its own fractious issues thanks to the "rise" of the Tea Party. more ›

A councilman in South Bend, Ind. - located a two-hour drive east of Chicago - is coming under fire for comments made about an LGBT community group - i.e. "those people" - in a video posted on that council's website. The video shows David Varner describing his opposition to an LGBT job protections bill. more ›

In his second address to the nation from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq last night, while pivoting to Afghanistan and a lagging economy that has plagued the United States since before he took office. more ›

Presidential vacations are always heated talking points. For instance, five years ago, President George W. Bush waited two days the landfall of Hurricane Katrina to cut short his month-long vacation and return to Washington, D.C. to oversee the "disaster response." President Obama is no different, facing criticism for having taken 48 days of vacation through the first 19 months of his presidency while facing challenges like the ongoing economic crisis and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (no, it's not all cleaned up yet). more ›

Per a recent interview with Gay Chicago Magazine, staunch LGBT ally U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) is reportedly "hopeful" for progress on a number of pieces of queer-centric legislation in Congress yet this year, but has admitted it's unlikely LGBT issues will see much movement prior to this fall's midterm elections. more ›

In Chicago to enjoy a little down time for his 49th birthday, President Obama paid a visit to the Ford plant on Chicago's South side Thursday, touting job creation at a time when many Americans are nervous about the economy. After acknowledging the local elected officials in the plant with him, including Mayor Daley, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Governor Pat Quinn, the President talked about the historic significance of Chicago's Ford Assembly Plant. "This plant is part of American history," he said, noting that it had been built by Henry Ford in 1924. "When World War II was raging, this plant was churning out armored vehicles that helped make victory possible. In the 1990s, workers at this plant built the best-selling car in America five years in a row." Governor Quinn, who is running for re-election, highlighted his own work in bringing over a thousand jobs to Chicago, releasing a video of the visit to the plant, including remarks from both him and the president. more ›

President Obama announced today that his plans to draw down combat forces in Iraq by August 31st, 2010 are on schedule. In a speech to the Disabled Veterans of America in Atlanta, Obama said “Already, we have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases. We’re moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we’ve seen in decades.” By the deadline, U.S. Forces will number 50,000 - a reduction of 94,000 since Obama took office according to the Tribune. At present, there are nearly 65,000 soldiers in Iraq. This does not include contractors however, which number more than 100,000. more ›

Ford Motor Company, which has an assembly plant on Chicago's South side and a stamping plant in Ford Heights, unveiled the new Ford Explorer Monday afternoon with much fanfare. While the launch of the newly redesigned Ford Explorer has been anticipated among car aficionados for some time, the big story in Chicago is the employment impact building the car here will have on the local economy. Ford will be adding 1,200 workers to it's local payroll to handle production, which is expected to start in November. Mayor Daley, poet laureate of the City of Big Shoulders, summed it up to Crain's, saying “New jobs are being created. Overtime is being created... In America, people want a job.” Echoing that sentiment, Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman and great-grandson of founder Henry Ford said that while his company has experienced four quarters of growth, he's still feeling cautious about the market. “Overall, the car market isn’t as healthy as it was two years ago. So far in July, though, early sales look good,” he told the Sun-Times, adding that “we’ve got to get the economy moving again for all of our sakes.” more ›

The White House Council of Economic Advisers issued its fourth report on impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (you can read a PDF of the report here). The report details some of the positive elements of the federal spending act, designed to kickstart the economy in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse, including 3.6 million jobs that were saved or created through the second quarter of 2010, exceeding the president's goals by six months. The report also estimated that as of this year's second quarter the Recovery Act boosted the gross domestic product between 2.7 and 3.2 percent, in line with Congressional Budget Office estimates. And the council noted that for every $1 in federal spending the private sector is investing $3 into the economy. more ›

A sign a Tea Party group in Iowa commissioned that compared President Obama to both Hitler and Lenin has been covered up and will be removed. The billboard, seen above, was originally the brain child of members of the North Iowa Tea Party. But it seems this example of expression, which towered over the metropolis of Mason City, Iowa, was a bit too much even for fellow Tea Partiers, albeit only after the billboard drew criticism. more ›

President Obama's Tuesday announcement of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the first of its kind to come from a White House administration, outlined a number of ambitious goals to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS domestically, but failed to address where funding to achieve such goals would be available for already-strapped service providers in Chicago and nationwide. more ›

With federal prosecutors wrapping up their case against our ex-governor this week, Blago is getting attacked on another front, this time by a well-known political operative. Rick Reed, the man responsible for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attack ads against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry during the 2004 election, is helping to fund a new website that tries to connect Blago to current president Barack Obama. The site, Obama & Blago, is actually the brainchild of former Jim Ryan staffers Dan Curry and John Pearman (though Curry told Chicago News Cooperative that Ryan himself is in no way involved with the site. The site's funding comes from Reed's the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, a 501(c)3 organization. more ›