This Ebert tweet was a riff on Phil Rosenthal's post yesterday about a sexually suggestive and vulgar memo sent out to Tribune Co. employees from chief innovation officer Lee Abrams, nearly a week after the New York Times expose on the noxious corporate culture at Tribune Co. under Sam Zell and Randy Michaels (the normally tone deaf Abrams has since apologized for the email). more ›

The rumors from overnight and into the morning do not bode well for Bulls fans hanging on to hopes that LeBron James might join Carlos Boozer in Chicago. In fact, things do not bode well for Cleveland, either, and tonight's hour-long tribute to LeBron's ego (which has taken to Twitter) may also be an opportunity to watch the decimation of the collective psyche of an entire fanbase on national television. Published reports from overnight - the Cleveland Plain Dealer, NY Newsday, and, yes, ESPN - all say it's looking more and more like LeBron will join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami where the Heat will then presumably only be able to pay former members of the Washington Generals to fill out the remaining roster spots. LeBron would also be taking less cash as a deal with the Heat would be in the five-year, $90 million range if the available cap space was split equally amongst the big three but Florida's lack of state income tax would eventually make up the difference. more ›

With the passing of broadcast journalist legend John Callaway, WTTW has made some scheduling changes to honor him. According to the Trib's Phil Rosenthal:

Tonight's 7 p.m. edition of "Chicago Tonight," the WTTW show Callaway launched in 1984, will focus on Callaway's career and life with tributes from "Chicago Tonight" regulars Phil Ponce, Carol Marin, Joel Weisman, Elizabeth Brackett and Rich Samuels. The show will also feature highlights of Callaways most memorable interviews with array of newsmakers and celebrities.

Four local television stations are banding together to share coverage of non-exclusive events, according to a report by Phil Rosenthal in yesterday's Tribune. The stations involved in the agreement are NBC 5, Fox 32, CBS 2, and WGN. The hold-out? Top-ranked ABC 7, whose chief Emily Barr "has said she wants her station to remain independent and flexible with its coverage," according to Rosenthal. Essentially, there would be one camera crew at a non-exclusive event - i.e., a Mayor Daley press conference - that will feed all four stations with each station deciding on how it uses that footage, also cutting down on costs. Check out Rosenthal's story for more information, including quotes from each station. more ›

• Stick-em-up: a man robbed a Logan Square McDonald's today armed only with a stick.
• Police seized drugs and weapons as well as arrested Casey Crawford during an overnight raid at a condo apparently owned by Chicago Police Asst. Supt. Beatrice Cuello. Neither Cuello nor her daughter, who also lives at the condo, were suspected of any wrong-doing.
• A state appeals court has ruled jailed former governor George Ryan should be allowed to receive part of his pension. Ryan will receive $65,000 a year.

Things got down-right nasty at Monday night's meeting of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artist when NBC 5's Warner Saunders (pictured right) accused former Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder of bias. Extra sizzle: Feder was in attendance as a guest of the AFTRA. According to the Trib's Phil Rosenthal, Saunders' said in his incendiary speech that Feder underminded "the accomplishments of black talent while placing the spotlight on our deficiencies" and then added that inviting Feder was "like choosing David Duke to serve as mohel at a circumcision." Damn. Speaking to Mancow yesterday, Feder said, "From the very beginning, [it] became a personal attack." AFTRA Chicago executive director Eileen Willenborg defended Saunders' right to the speech, saying, "It was a forum for free speech to happen, and free speech sure happened." more ›

The Tribune had a wraparound yesterday laying out some of what they're calling progress in terms of their redesign, which you'll remember kicked off towards the tail end of last September. Editor Gerould Kern laid out what they've done, what they've changed since the redesign, and what they're going to continue to do. Cliff's Notes version: Business section is back, jumping stories to other sections is done, more clear-cut organization of the paper is being implemented, and "refining" the use of graphics is underway. more ›

Obama wins Illinois; Clinton takes Arkansas, Tennesee and Kansas. McCain took Illinois, Romney Massachusettes. [Trib, Trib] more ›

So the word is semi-official, according to Robert Feder ... Steve Dahl is moving from afternoons at WCKG to take over mornings on WJMK, better known as JACK-FM. On one hand this move makes perfect sense. No one has really dominated Chicago's morning-drive since Mancow's popularity plummeted, and Howard Stern took to satellite. Dahl is a pretty dependable commodity that we're reasonably certain will deliver the ratings. At the same time, WJMK has been the... more ›

NBC 5 reporter Amy Jacobson (pictured, right, with NBC 5 weekend anchor Anna Davlantes), who's been covering the story of missing Plainfield woman Lisa Stebic, was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place over the weekend. Video footage surfaced of Jacobson in a bikini at the home of Craig Stebic, Lisa's estranged husband, on her day off. Before we go any further, kudos to the headline writer at the Tribune for not stooping... more ›

Yesterday we expressed our feelings about CBS Chicago adding a Super Bowl Countdown Clock in the top left corner during all of their programming. Turns we weren't the only ones that thought the clock was overkill. Tribune reporter Phil Rosenthal interviewed Carol Fowler of CBS who said "We were bombarded by viewers who said it was annoying, it was distracting. ... It wasn't appreciated by people watching the Hallmark movie of the week." CBS has... more ›

Yesterday an alert Chicagoist reader sent us a link to a site called WhatsWrongInChicago.com. Rather than a treatise on government corruption and nanny-like aldermen, the site is merely a static page with a promise that the answer would arrive on September 18th. more ›

No More Skafish? more ›

Thanks to the Sun-Times splashy headline on Tuesday, a best-of show, stories in the dailies and assorted blog posts*, anyone who still cares that Mancow was still on the air at Q-101 already knows he no longer is. more ›

Chicagoist has seen plenty of films that would have been improved had we not been able to understand the dialogue (we’re thinking here of most of the Brittany Murphy oeuvre). But thanks to a push over the last year by two local theater chains, more Spanish-speaking Latino moviegoers will be able to enjoy Oscar-bait films this season. more ›

With Chicago being the number three market in the country, you’d expect that when Howard Stern departs Infinity for the greener ($$$) pastures of Sirius satellite radio, he’d be replaced here with a marquee name befitting the great radio history of Chicago. Or Adam Carolla. Instead, Infinity chose to go with…Rover. *crickets chirping* Allow us to explain why: Infinity is hoping that the Glen Ellyn-born Rover (whose real name, Shane French, sounds much cooler in... more ›

With apologies to Eric Zorn if it weren’t for Phil Rosenthal’s media columns and “The Boondocks” Chicagoist’s Bridgeport correspondent would have no concrete reasoning for actually reading the Tribune. However, when someone (um, Scott Smith) clues us to an article like this from Tuesday’s edition of the World’s Greatest Newspaper (an aside to Neil Steinberg: that’s the Tribune’s slogan) and asks us if we can work a local angle into this we’re happy to oblige,... more ›