The economy's still in the slow, beginning stages of recovery and another sign of that is the rise in downtown office space vacancies. According to Crain's, the overall vacancy rate downtown for the first quarter of 2010 was 17.1 percent, up from 13.3 percent during the same time last year and the highest since early 2006. But there's still reason for hope. more ›

While we're glad that Rex Grossman will be holding a clipboard for tomorrow's Bears game (and we have even money that says he'll fumble that before halftime), we're not on the "start Brian Griese" bandwagon. Sure, he's getting paid a lot of money and everyone from the Mariotti-who-cried-wolf to Joe Sixpack has been calling for Griese since the pre-season, but we're just not certain he's the hot hand the Bears need to right the proverbial... more ›

It appears that one porn-viewin’ jerk ruined the Internet for the whole bunch this week; Dupage County announced that county employees will no longer be able to idly surf the Internet. more ›

We're always in favor of more places to see movies, especially if those places are in close proximity to alcohol. So the news that Smartbar is now hosting a FREE Tuesday night movie night (via DVD projection) called "The Reel Deal" was welcome indeed. Bad news: you have to be 21+. Good news: they're showing two (tenuously thematically connected) classic cult films per night (plus an entire showing of the BBC's The Office on March... more ›

This weekend promises to be jumpin’ jumpin’. Chicago Business has 10 dope ideas for this weekend, including an architectural tour, jazz ensembles, and an all-night flea market. It’s also the Lakeview Mayfest, where you can find beer, music—mostly cover/tribute bands, which could be fun in an ironic way—food, trinkets, and yuppie-hippies. Oh, oh, Chicagoist teases because we love. Don’t forget the Weber Grill “block party” (money goes to charity). The whole city seems to be squeezing in the fun times before Memorial Day blahs kick in, so join some University of Chicago students for a free screening of Office Space on the main quads on Friday, or for a (not free) Medeski, Martin & Wood / Jurassic 5 / Guided By Voices concert on Saturday. more ›