Did the president of Medill use made-up quotes in a newsletter? We...barely care. What really bugs us is journalists citing the existence of Facebook group as some kind of indicator of anything--"students and alumni joined the new 'Save Journalism at Medill' group on Facebook. On Tuesday afternoon, there were nearly 90 members ...." There are 650 fulltime students at Medill. Fewer than 90 of them . Agh, not news. [Trib] more ›

Wow, it's been hours since Al Sharpton was in the news, so here we are today with a new round of Sharpton headlines. He held a press conference outside the Mayor's office this morning demanding that the City effectively treat its police brutality issues--or Sharpton will campaign against Chicago's Olympic bid. He also urged aldermen to reject Daley's nominee for police superintendent Jody Weis's because Daley selected Weis without input from the black community. Psst,... more ›

The United States Olympic Committee awarded an Olympic Opportunity Grant earlier this month to World Sport Chicago. The Gloves not Guns program, run in cooperation with USA Boxing, the Police Athletic League, and the Chicago Park District, promotes the sport of boxing to Chicago's urban youth as a way to stay in shape--and out of trouble. more ›

The US House subcommittee on highways and transit will conduct a hearing here on October 29 to determine what kinds of transit improvements Chicago would need before we could host the Olympics. Why yes, October 29 is a mere 6 days before our public transit system starts collapsing into itself like a dying star! "Mayor Richard Daley, Blagojevich, officials from the Regional Transportation Authority, the three transit agencies and the U.S. Olympic Committee will... more ›

Back in May, the International Olympic Committee laid the smack down on Chicago 2016 for illegal use of the torch symbol. (All Olympic imagery is reserved for official Olympic business. Chicago's still just an "applicant city.") Anyway, the suspense is over! The new logo is here, and boy, is it ... meh. According to this so-earnest-it-hurts explanation, the logo is "a great symbol of hope for our city and our nation," and the six points... more ›

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network." It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by... more ›

Chicago continues to bring in events that they hope will help showcase that Chicago is a perfect host city for the 2016 Olympics. Last month we shared with you the U.S. World League Volleyball matches that are coming to Chicago in mid-June. Chicago will also be hosting the 2007 World Boxing Championships a multi-week event that will begin in Chicago on October 17. The event also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics... more ›

In October Chicagoist wrote that we were excited that the logo designed by VSA Partners for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid turned out so well. Sadly, that logo and anything with the logo on it, (including this post) will likely become collector's editions as the International Olympic Committee has ruled against Olympic hopeful cities from using the torch likeness. The IOC rules state that a logo "shall not contain the Olympic symbol, the Olympic motto,... more ›

The city was abuzz Saturday afternoon with the news that Chicago has made the cut to be the US Olympic Committee’s choice to host the 2016 Olympics. It’s not a done deal yet; the International Olympic Committee still has to choose a final site for the Games, but this latest adventure from Mayor Daley has certainly changed the equation. In bars and coffee shops, around dinner tables and water coolers, and yes, even here in... more ›

Well, whether you love the idea of the possibility of the games being in Chicago or hate it, we are the United States candidate to hold the 2016 games. Although the International Olympic Committee has no requirements to switch up continents for the games, the 2008 games are in Beijing, and the 2012 games are in London, so it seems likely North America will host the 2016 Summer Games.... more ›

It's a perpetual high jump folks, and Chicago just asked for a few more inches on the bar. Apologies for the lackluster play on words, but every other possible pun has been used. Today at 3 p.m. the United States Olympic Committee will finally announce their choice. We will provide an update when the announcement takes place, but the USOC heard Chicago's final bid this morning and there were a couple of surprises. The major... more ›

We don't know about you, but we plan to pick up a slew of international brews and spend the weekend drinking and tailgating, waiting for the United States Olympic Committee 2016 Olympic Bid Decision, which is expected late Saturday afternoon. more ›

Chicagoist has stated several times that we think whether you like it or not, Chicago has a strong chance of winning the 2016 Olympics. The United States Olympic Committee is expected to select either Chicago or Los Angeles as its representative for the 2016 bid on April 14. The website, aroundtherings.com, feels Chicago has the edge over Los Angeles. Around the Rings performed a review that resulted in a "power index" for each city. Chicago... more ›

We here at Chicagoist haven't been shy about our skepticism of bringing the Olympics to Chicago. So we weren't too shocked to see, less than two weeks after Mayor Daley coasted to re-election, that the US Olympic Committee wanted the city to have "some skin in the game," committing the city (and therefore taxpayers) to guarantee the games to the tune of half a billion dollars. On Monday what's left of the city council took... more ›

This week, Chicago welcomed the U.S. Olympic Committee's evaluation commission to town to take a look at our facilities and plans as part of our bid for the 2016 Summer Games. With the USOC having already narrowed their list to Chicago and Los Angeles, the USOC's visits to the two towns this month will help them chose which candidate city to present to the International Olympic Committee when they convene their board meeting on April... more ›

As the US Olympic Committee packs their bags this morning and Daley and his cronies assert that an Olympic bid by Chicago is "eminently doable," the rest of us are left wondering what bringing the event to Chicago really means. more ›

Chicago has passed another milestone in its efforts to win the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. On Tuesday, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) announced its intentions to submit a bid for the 2016 Olympics. The USOC will choose between Chicago and Los Angeles as the city of choice for the United States' bid at a board meeting scheduled for April 14. Chicago and Los Angeles are expected to submit formal plans to the USOC by... more ›

Our colleagues over at SFist are saying arrivederci to the 2016 Olympics. This afternoon, the San Francisco Olympic Committee formally withdrew its bid for the 2016 Summer Games. Last week, the surprise announcement that the San Francisco 49ers were looking outside of San Francisco for a new stadium brought up concerns about the bid. A major concern for the Bay Area's bid has always been the lack of an Olympic Stadium. With this announcement,... more ›

Daley's little Olympic bid project is actually starting to get real. Back in July, Chicago was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee as one of the three finalists for the United States bid. Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco are being evaluated and in six months the U.S. will decide which city to back for the 2016 Olympics. But this week Daley and the Chicago 2016 Committee, chaired by Patrick Ryan, took a few steps... more ›

Chicagoist can’t decide whether hosting the 2016 Olympics would be a boon or boondoggle. But this morning’s Trib article about the latest obstacle to Chicago’s bid nearly had us choking on our Lucky Charms. Apparently, our image is still stuck in the past: more ›

"So, the U.S. Olympic Committee comes into town and...." Sounds like the beginning of a joke. To us, at least. We might be in the minority of people who *don't* want the Olympics to come to town in 2016. more ›

Chicagoist is clearly proud of our city. We love showing it off when out-of-town friends and family. vist. And we'd love to see the whole world learn about its beauty, cultural institutions and people. That's why we want to see the summer Olympics come to chicago in 2016. The city learned that it has made the first cut -- competing with two other cities to be chosen as the United State's bid to the Olympic... more ›

Chicagoist believes the only thing better than finding fun shows and exhibits for our readers is watching them develop. The arts and theater communities continue working long after their 15 minutes on the web expire, we just try to keep up. Consider this report a “Where Are They Now?” sans washed-up celebrities. The Snubfest ’06 lineup has been announced, and it looks good. Not Aspen Comedy Festival good, but that’s kind of the point. The... more ›

Saturday night was the 25th anniversary celebration of the Improv Olympic, we mean, the IO theater. Held at the Chicago Theater and hyped for months, the bill was rife with comedic talent. IO has schooled some of television and film's biggest stars, and they were all coming home to wish IO and its living founder, Charna Halpern, a happy birthday. (Del Close -- who helped Charna found IO when she split from Second City --... more ›

Start hording those ImprovOlympic mugs, shirts, and ticket stubs, ‘cause “ImprovOlympic” is no more. The 24-year old company that gave us large blocks of the Saturday Night Live cast, much of the talent behind Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and “that dopey guy” from Scrubs has changed its name to I.O. Theater. In a story you’d expect to find in The Onion, I.O. Owner and Director Charna Halpern received a letter from the U.S. Olympic Committee ordering her to drop “Olympic” from the company name lest someone actually think the Wrigleyville club was qualifying people for Beijing ’08. Back in its formative years, the club was embroiled in a dispute with a stand-up comedy club owner claiming to have copyrighted “improv.” And since the club's been competition-free for decades, they've merely lost a bit of marketing cache. more ›