Today in restaurant news: Rick Bayless adds a new dining option to Terminal 3, Highball Lounge brings the 50s alive and Slurping Turtle is finally set to open in River North. more ›

In today's absurd celebrity news: Rosie O'Donnell apparently is on a one-woman crusade against underage drinking. Or, if you believe Celebslam, was trying to get some tail. According to the National Enquirer, Rosie accosted two women drinking in a bar at O'Hare. Problem? They were 24 and 27. more ›

Patrick Daley made $708,999 from Concourse Communications less than a year after it made a contract with the city in 2006 to provide wireless access at both Midway and O'Hare. But did the Daley administration lie to the press? more ›

The next time you run to the bathroom before you hop on a plane at O'Hare, be sure to take a peek at the bathroom mirrors. Instead of seeing your own reflection staring back, you will also see advertisements, thanks to Clear Channel Communications Inc. and a North Carolina company called Mirrus. Both companies told the Chicago Tribune that they plan to install the mirrors at several airports across the country, but they are starting at O'Hare--with 150 40-inch mirrors coming to men's and women's bathrooms over the next three months. more ›

Luck and last-minute travel plans collaborated this week to land us at O'Hare airport's Terminal 1, mano-a-mano with Tortas Frontera, the brand new sandwich shop and bar by Chef Rick Bayless. Fresh off a meal-less flight and sporting a withering lunchtime hunger, we lined up to try one of the tempting tortas. more ›

Even though he's out the door next spring, Mayor Daley is back from a visit to China loaded with nifty ideas and he's really, really pushing his high-speed train to O'Hare idea. According to Daley, our friends in China and Korea want to help us make this magical unicorn train to the airport a reality: “They’re all interested. … Everybody’s interested. ... They want to design it. They want to build it, operate and maintain it … with people working here." Daley insisted his leaving office wouldn't deter these investors from wanting to get involved and then played the "everyone else has one" card: more ›

That didn't take long. Even as he'll be long out of office by the time the O'Hare Expansion is complete, Mayor Daley succeeded in garnering City Council approval for his plan to issue $1 billion in new bonds to fund the ongoing project, which is coming in well over-budget, according to the Tribune. Still, aldermen gave the mayor the thumbs up for the money, a tactic seen as buying time while the City tries to work out a deal with United, one of the airlines balking at the expansion project. more ›

Ahmed Mohammed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Musri, the two men arrested Monday in Amsterdam for having "suspicious items" in their luggage on a flight from O'Hare, will not be charged with plotting a future terror attack, sources close to the FBI investigation told the Associated Press yesterday. The FBI investigation into the two men found that they do not know each other, the suspicious items found in al Soofi's luggage were not being used for a "dry bomb run," and that al Soofi's and al Musri's change of flight plans to catch direct flights from Chicago to Amsterdam was coincidental. more ›

Amsterdam authorities arrested two men on terrorism charges after they were allowed to fly out of O'Hare Airport with "suspicious items" in their checked luggage. The men, identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI., and Hezam al Murisi, were allowed to board United Airlines Flight 908 to Amsterdam after the items were found, but deemed not dangerous in and of themselves, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. more ›

This will probably (hopefully) be the only time we ever link to the Weekly World News but it was too good to pass up. While Blago was chatting it up with Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert hosted author Leslie Kean (posted below) and the topic of the 2006 UFO at O'Hare was brought up. The WWN has since followed up by posting a 2007 video of a conversation between the Trib's Jon Hilkevitch and CLTV's Jim Wagner (which we've posted after the jump). The incident was later dismissed as weird weather but we don't buy it. In an age when alligators and raccoons are conspiring to take over our government, why not accept that UFOs were trying to land at O'Hare but gave up after getting pissy over delays? more ›

World-renowned chef Rick Bayless is his expanding his restaurant empire and simultaneously taking aim at boring-as-hell airport fare like Cinnabon and Chilli's Too. The Top Chef Masters champ is opening two new locations at O'Hare Airport, it was announced today. The Chicago Department of Aviation said one location would be in Terminal 1 and the other in Terminal 3. Not a whole heck of a lot is known about the locations other than that they will open in "the fall" giving us more airport lines to wait in. But, hey, at least these will have good food at the end of them as opposed to, say, body scanners or McFlurries. Details about the specific menus are, we're sure, forthcoming. more ›

No matter how long you get stuck at O'Hare or Midway (provided the airline doesn't lose track of you) and no matter what time of day or night you're sitting in the gate area, at least there's one thing you can do unencumbered now: get wasted. Besides approving that third Wal-Mart, the City Council today also unanimously approved 24-hour liquor sales at the city's two airports as well as those alcohol-filled pushcarts. Previously, alcohol sales at airports were shut down between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. every day except for Sunday when it was shut down from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. A Sunday morning flight without a Bloody Mary to ease our nerves? The horror. Anyway, if booze is your pre-flight stress reliever instead of Xanax, all 32 restaurants at O'Hare and 11 at Midway with liquor licenses now have the OK to stay open 24/7 to keep you drunk before you hit the sky because, hey, what could go wrong? more ›

United Airline workers at O'Hare are a bit red-faced after a weekend incident in which they lost track of a nine-year-old child for several hours. Julien Reid, splitting time between his mother's home in Ottawa and his father's home in San Francisco, was returning to Ottawa this weekend when a layover at O'Hare lasted a lot longer than it should have. After deplaning at O'Hare, Julien's connecting flight was delayed so he stayed in a room for unaccompanied minors and special needs flyers from which, according to an attendant Julien's mother spoke with, the airline apparently forgot to fetch him. more ›

• A flight attendant with a pilot's license helped land an American Airlines plane at O'Hare this afternoon after the pilot fell ill.
• Mayor Daley met with Wal-Mart execs today and came away "encouraged" the city and the super-mega-retailer will hammer out a deal to open multiple stores in the city.
• More on today's Chicago School Board decision to give the CPS power to increase class size.

• There could be some slow jams this summer at O'Hare and no, we don't mean the good, Teddy Pendergrass kind.
• Fatima Mohammadi, the Chicago woman who was captured during the flotilla raid near the Gaza Strip, has returned home.
• Signs of hope for the local economic recovery.

While it wont' affect Chicago residents that much, visiting family, friends, and travelers could soon face a stiffer car rental fee if they pick up their car at O'Hare. Mayor Daley has proposed hiking rental fees as much as $8 per car to help cover the cost of a new car rental center, part of the current O'Hare expansion. A grand total cost - the cost of the new center plus other infrastructure improvements - will come in over $460 million. Daley said of the proposed center, “We will be one of the few cities that will have an environmentally friendly rental agency...It’ll be the most environmentally friendly rental station they’ve ever seen in the country.” Jonathan Leach, general counsel for the Department of Aviation, said the increased fees would be "consistent" with other airports that are building the same types of centers. more ›

Another of fallen anti-gay leader George Rekers' alleged rentboys came forward recently, claiming that Rekers hired him for a tantalizing night of "tickle touch" at the O'Hare Hyatt Regency back in the summer of 1992. The story begs the question: Exactly how many "luggage handlers" has the convert-the-gays proponent hired through the years? more ›

Most of the news about O'Hare hasn't been too great as of late. That makes today's news all the cheerier. The airport was awarded the 2009-10 Balchen/Post Award for its ability to clear snow off of runways in the "Large" commercial airport category, an honor it shares with Washington D.C.'s Dulles which faced a pretty stiff blast of winter this year. The award, sponsored by The Northeast Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives and handed out at The International Aviation Snow Symposium, is the first such honor for O'Hare since 1999. O'Hare received 50 inches of snow, over a foot above its normal tally. Previous wins for the airport came in 1978, 1988, and 1989. However, the airport remains winless in its bid to win a Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. more ›

While we have a soft spot in our heart for most things from Iceland, this cloud of volcanic ash is kicking up some trouble even over at O'Hare. The eruption of a volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland has sent a cloud of ash into the atmosphere that's currently causing all kinds of air traffic havoc over Northern Europe, completely shutting down airports across Scotland, England, and several other countries. And while our magnificent skies are clear of ash, there some residual delays that are reaching their way across the Atlantic. Karen Pride, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation, told the Tribune of delays at O'Hare, "There are a few flights that are starting to be impacted. There have been a couple of delays and flight cancellations because of the the volcanic ash." So far, there've been no reports of problems at Midway. If you have a flight you think may be affected, be sure to check with your airline and you can also keep track via the Aviation Department's online flight system. more ›

A warning light aboard United Airlines Flight No. 638 was activated early this morning after the flight took off from O'Hare International Airport, effectively forcing the commercial airliner to return back to O'Hare for another maintenance check. The plane took off from O'Hare at 8:53 a.m. and was originally scheduled to arrive at Orlando International Airport at 12:34 p.m., said United spokesman Mike Trevino to the Chicago Tribune. more ›

Crain's is reporting this morning that the federal government is about to make it rain at O'Hare with a new round of funding - $400 million - for the airport's expansion. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be on hand as will U.S. Dick Durbn, Gov. Quinn, and Mayor Daley, who bemoaned the lack of funding earlier this year. It's a major boost for the City in its ongoing fights over O'Hare expansion. Besides the Battle of Bensenville and the fight over the St. Johannes Cemetery relocation, the City has also faced off with airlines over the expansion project. Six major airlines have previously expressed their opposition to the expansion project and American and United Airlines protested a new landing fee meant to fund the project. And that's not even getting into the accused shenanigans surrounding contracts on the expansion. It's not yet known what the new round of cash will be used for but it's still a welcome influx for the City and Mayor Daley who's in full 'Git 'er done" mode on the expansion. more ›

After years of legal battles, the demolition of several hundred homes in suburban Bensenville is slated to start today to make way for a new runway at O'Hare. The village agreed last fall to end the fight in exchange for $16 million plus an additional $20 million more from the City of Chicago to insulate homes and schools from noise pollution caused by the planes flying in and out of O'Hare. But even as one part of the Bensenville battle is over, another - over St. Johannes Cemetery - is still ongoing. more ›

The new body scanner is installed and in use at O'Hare's United terminal and yesterday's post on the subject brought up a few good questions. Let us know - tips(at)chicagoist(dot)com - if you encounter the scanner and what the experience was like. No hassle? Did you opt for the pat-down? Drop us a line. more ›

The first of the long-awaited body scanners has finally been switched on and put into use at the United terminal at O'Hare as of today. The Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch tried it out on Friday and came away pretty impressed and not at all embarrassed. If you happen to go through it, let us know how you're experience was. more ›

• Lawyers for asshat/former governor Rod Blagojevich have requested that his trial be moved to at least November.
• Today in the Boender Bribery trial.
• The first full body scanner was installed today in the United terminal at O'Hare.

Numerous snow events are being blamed for the poor on-time departure rankings for the city's airports in January. Of the country's 29 busiest airports, O'Hare ranked 26th for on-time departures (74 percent) while Midway ranked last (69 percent), according to the the U.S. Department of Transportation report. As for arrivals, the two fared a bit better: Midway was 19th overall with 78 percent of arrivals on time and O'Hare was 23rd place with 76 percent of flights arriving on time. Number one overall? Seattle-Tacoma where 89 percent of departures and 86 percent of arrivals were on time. Yeah, but do they have life-size statues of the Blues Brothers? Didn't think so. more ›

• A former O'Hare security chief is speaking out about how unsecure the airport is.
• Note to Blago: they're laughing AT you, not with you.
• The Reader's Whet Moser nails the Chicago Now vs Mike Doyle feud.

The first round of body scanners are heading out to the nation's airports and we'll get the first look at these new security measures. O'Hare, along with Boston's Logan Airport, will be the lucky first recipients of the new full body scanners. The new scanners should be installed within the next two weeks and all 150 scanners will be in place around the nation by the end of June, according to a Homeland Security Department spokesperson. [FOX 32] more ›

A more appropriate term for the newly resurgent investigation might be frozen case, but that isn't stopping Chicago police from trying to solve the gang-style murder of Edward J. O'Hare in 1939. O'Hare--father to "Butch" O'Hare, the WWII hero for whom our lovely airport is named--had ties to the infamous Al Capone and was later an informant that eventually led to Capone's arrest for tax evasion. The case has been brought to the forefront of the cold case division at the request of Alderman Edward Burke of the 14th Ward, who felt that O'Hare never quite got the credit he deserved for helping put Capone behind bars. According to the Sun-Times, "They'll investigate until it's solved or until they determine there's nowhere to take the 70-year-old case." Good luck. more ›

A United Airlines plane flying out of O'Hare International Airport made an emergency landing in New Jersey this morning after its landing gear "failed to deploy," Chicago Breaking News reports. Passengers were evacuated and no one was injured. more ›