Spiaggia (aka President and Mrs. Obama's favorite restaurant) gets the food pr0n treatment over at Menupages Grub Street Chicago today with a series of Stolpman-level photos from Carolina Bolado. The photo essay is also running to commemorate chef Sarah Grueneberg's one-year anniversary as Tony Mantuano's chef de cuisine. [Grub Street Chi] more ›

• President-Elect Obama's team is set to release a report that will clear Rahmbo of the Blago mess. Too bad, we were hoping for a wiretap transcript that would have made Glengarry Glen Ross seem like a Disney movie.
• Ah, Christmas-themed irony, our favorite kind. Dozens of health department workers in southern Illinois became sick -- after eating ham at their own office's holiday party. That's why we usually go with an all bacon Christmas dinner.
• Despite millions traveling over the holidays, beleaguered airline United has told their flight attendants union that more layoffs may be coming soon -- perhaps 250 more jobs next month on top of the 1,550 flight attendant jobs cut a few months ago. Expect the airlines to be next with their hat in hand in front of Congress any day now.

The huge banner containing an image of President-elect Barack Obama and makes it pretty obvious that Hideout's owners and staff were pretty vocal supporters of the dude when he was running for office and are tickled pink that he's about to take the reins. more ›

O.K., Barack Obama has nothing directly to do with this, but Washington D.C. bars will be open 24-hours New Orleans style for the inauguration next year. No word yet on whether alcohol soaked Hurricane slushies will be sold and allowed to take into the streets in huge Styrofoam cups. more ›

Photo by DR000
• Sweet Lou's not the only one to get baseball honors this week. White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin and Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano were both received Silver Slugger awards today.
• Some more details have been released in the super creepy case of the Evanston woman living with her 3 dead siblings.
• John Kass takes a look at a smarty pants 12-year-old in Oak Park who decided to do a social experiment by wearing a pro-McCain shirt to school one day, and a pro-Obama shirt the next. Guess which shirt went over better.

Oh, if only Charlton Heston were alive to see this. Tribune correspondent Howard Witt has gathered up a file folder of anecdotal evidence purporting that sales of assault rifles, handguns and ammunition nationwide are through the roof since Barack Obama was elected last week. Witt reports that one Houston gun shop ran out of assault weapons the day after the election and now have a month long waiting list, and that state officials in Colorado set a new record for gun purchaser background checks. Reasons stated range from fear of future gun bans, to fear of "civil unrest" because of the economy, to one sociology professor claiming it's a, "deep-seated fear of the armed black man." (We're sensing a theme here.) more ›

Anonymous Democratic officials are telling the Associated Press that Obama's transition team is looking to tap Patti Solis Doyle to become Cabinet secretary in the Obamistration. Solis Doyle, sister of 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis, was fired from Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign in February, and went on to join the Obama campaign as Joe Biden's chief of staff. Solis Doyle is reportedly interested, but is "[worried] about the effect it would have on her two young children." Now we love Chicago as much as anybody (naturally), but we're still thinking perhaps our President-Elect should expand his Cabinet pool a bit to include people more than 1 degree of separation from a Daley. more ›

Late last week, Audarshia "312 Dining Diva" Townsend wrote of the possibility of a local chef following President-elect Obama to the White House, naming Rick Bayless and Art Smith by name as two prime candidates. Townsend followed this with an anonymous tip in which Bayless asked Smith if he accepted the gig yet. Quoth the Diva: more ›

One of the things we've loved about the Obama campaign was their embracing of social media like Flickr. Their constant stream of photos was a great source of the progress of the campaign and gave viewers access to events in a campaign that have never before been seen. Even better? This new Election Night behind-the-scenes set which features some amazing pics, giving us an unprecedented look at what it was like for the Obama family and campaign on that historic night. more ›

No matter how you feel about Chicago hosting the 2016 Olympics, it is undeniable that Mayor Daley has been politically strategic about bringing one of his largest pet projects to fruition. From the get-go, Daley had enough foresight to recognize the power of a potential Obama presidency in relation to Chicago’s chances, bringing Obama on board to support the bid way back in the spring of 2007. Obama showed up at the city’s USOC Candidate City rally last year and the IOC Candidate City rally last June, each time making a speech that tied the Chicago 2016 bid to his candidacy for president. more ›

Sure, we're proud somebody from our home town was elected president. But even more importantly, the future Commander-in-Chief is a White Sox fan! So it comes as no big surprise that White Sox GM Kenny Williams wasted no time in inviting Obama to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day -- April 6, when the Sox will host the Kansas City Royals. more ›

The clock is ticking and polls will open soon across this great nation of ours and soon we'll elect a new leader. As head into the home-stretch and supporters begin worrying about a repeat of 2000 (or worse), here are a few stories about the Chicago candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. more ›

Going to Sen. Barack Obama’s election night rally in Grant Park? Well, Chicago officials say Neil Sullivan’s got your back. The retired security expert is getting paid $100 an hour, with a $60,000 cap, to make sure no one raises the roof too high. Sullivan previously worked with the city by revising its emergency and evacuation plans, which hopefully weren’t the same plans used in The Dark Knight (yes, everyone exit the city on Michigan Ave. while cons are bused to Navy Pier). Sullivan was originally hired in the event that the Cubs and the Sox made it to the playoffs and possibly the World Series (HA!). Since that dream didn’t come true, city officials gave him the Obama rally. more ›

This weekend, SNL gave us their idea of what Barack Obama's upcoming infomercial is going to be like. Andy Samberg as Rahm Emanuel? Rahm's #1 fan, our own former Editor Margaret Lyons, said, "I was like 'ooooh, yay!!!' but then it didn't even matter. more ›

DeRo is reporting C3 Presents -- most famous in our fair town for staging the yearly Lollapalooza concert -- will be handling all the deets for Barack Obama's election night spectacular in Grant Park. And to those of you afraid of catching a chill in the early November air as you wait hours upon hours to gaze upon the face of Obama, have no fear ... the heat generated by Barack's halo should keep you warm and toasty. more ›

Ron Howard travels back in time to stump for Chicago's own Obama ... you might have heard of him. more ›

It doesn't matter that his campaign was able to wrangle a whopping $150 million in September; Barack Obama is going to make media members dig deep into their pockets to attend Obamapalooza on Election Night. While logistics as to whether or not attendees will need tickets is still being sorted out, one thing is for sure: the media will be paying high prices to attain their passes. Depending on what amenities are needed, media members will pay from $715 to $1,815 for access. In addition, the media will have to pony up another $935 just to get access to the press tent to talk to campaign officials. There will be a free access area, but the press release from the Obama campaign describes it as, "outdoors, unassigned and may have obstructed views...standing room only.” So kind of like those shitty seats way up in the first level of Wrigley where you can't even see the scoreboard. more ›

Illinois Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is excusing himself from campaign appearances over the next two days to head to Hawaii to visit his gravely ill 86-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. Obama will still make scheduled appearances in Florida at the beginning of this week, but will bypass appearances in Iowa and Ohio at the end of the week to return to Hawaii on Thursday. Wife Michelle will appear in his place at rallies in Ohio on Friday; the Senator will return to the trail on Saturday out West. more ›

In an appearance today on NBC's , former Secretary of State and retired general Colin Powell gave his endorsement of Barack Obama for president. more ›

Incredibly anti-climactic and completely expected after the Tribune's surprise endorsement of Barack Obama for president yesterday, the Bright One's editorial board has officially announced that they, too, are backing our home town Senator for the top spot: more ›

Forget the mixtape we shared with you yesterday. This one is far superior. We can't stop listening to it ... Pink Floyd into Public Enemy AND it's socially conscious? Fuck yeah! Download it now. [dj_skilz] more ›

The Chaffey Community Republican Women Federated of San Bernardino County, in Upland, California is in trouble after they ran an altered image (see above) of Barack Obama that utilized stereotypes of blacks and was labeled as a "food stamp." The group used the picture in a newsletter it recently sent out to 200 members, along with the caption, "Obama talks about all those presidents that got their names on bills. If elected, what bill would he be on ????? Food Stamps, what else!" You stay classy, San Bernardino. more ›

Russell Simmons and Green Lantern have put together the "Yes We Can" mixtape. Outtasite! Download it here. [donewaiting] more ›

We can't get past the idiotic concept to even decide whether or not it's the "racial slur" it's being described as. A man in way-west suburban Lily Lake is causing quite the kerfuffle over a sign he's placed on his property along Route 47. The sign shows Barack Obama wearing a clown nose and wig, overlaid with a classic red circle with a line through it and the words "NO BROZOS". This is actually the second version of the sign to be displayed -- the first one was torn down and vandalized. Not taking any chances this time, the new one has a ring of barbed wire around it. "Fer sure no one be messin' with mah sign now!" Police have received a complaint about the sign, but they aren't going to do anything about it because of that whole "free speech" thing and all. more ›

Writers and Cartoonists for Obama will be hosting a fundraiser tonight, auctioning off a donated pool of signed books and political cartoons. Funds raised from the auction will go towards the cost of bussing Illinois residents to Iowa to canvass voters for Obama. more ›

Just when we thought our Monday Blues were going to fully consume us, this popped up in some of our inboxes. Courtesy of Chris Barrett comes this video of Obama appearing last week in West Philadelphia and talking a lot about pie. Pie is the new "change." more ›

Years after anyone to the left of Pat Buchanan dismissed it as nonsense, the New York Times takes a look at the one person primarily responsible for the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim -- Andy Martin. more ›

Cartoon for Chicagoist by Tim Daly more ›

The Health Department shut down another Bar Louie yesterday, this time at 741 W. Randolph (a press release from Tim Hadac at the CDPH says that it's still shut down as of post time). The major violation was the discovery of over 1,000 rat droppings in a basement storage area. Inspectors also found doors with gaps allowing insects and rodents easy access, fruit flies, overflowing dumpsters, no hot water and no sanitation solution in an automatic dishwashing machine. more ›