President Obama is scheduled to be at a rally along Midway Plaisance tomorrow, which means that traffic around the Plaisance and the University of Chicago will be strictly monitored. more ›

In the wake of yesterday's decision by a U.S. District judge to overturn California's controversial Proposition 8 banning gay marriage, yesterday's rally at Daley Plaza took on something of a celebratory air. Heavy rains earlier in the afternoon kept some away but a spirited crowd estimated at over 100 people - including our own Joe Erbentraut - made it out. After the rally, the crowd marched down to Grant Park at Michigan and Van Buren. Joe reports: "The mood was, besides tired from the work day, very excited, but with a "What's next?" message. Folks obviously want to see the decision upheld through the inevitable appeal process, and also were left asking: Why don't we have marriage, or even civil unions, here in Illinois? We all recognize a lot of work has yet to be done, but for now, we celebrated." more ›

Amidst the storms and Blago and whatever else is going on about town, you may have noticed the U.S. Men's National Team is making a nice run at the World Cup. It hasn't been easy but after yesterday's dramatic 1-0 victory over Algeria, Team USA own their group for the first time ever (not counting 1930 when they won in a three-team group) and is through to the knock-out round. Waiting for them on Saturday is Ghana, the nation that stymied the Americans in Germany four years ago and prevented the USA from advancing then. The USA had their lapses and missed opportunities throughout the Group Stage, but they've lined themselves up as good a draw as they could hope for, slated to face the winner of South Korea-Uruguay in the quarterfinals should they win Saturday. more ›

The parade and rally are done and while we don't expect folks to stop celebrating any time soon, you can relive the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup Championship parade and celebration with these photos. (RedEye has some great photos here.) More to come... more ›

The Blackhawks are already back and taking the Stanley Cup around town which means it's time for the party. The team and city have set the victory parade and rally for tomorrow morning, meaning it's going to be a pretty short work day for a lot of people in the Loop. The parade itself kicks off at 10:30 a.m. at Washington and Wacker and then will head east along Washington, taking a turn north on Michigan. The parade will end at Michigan and Wacker - where the parade will hopefully proceed single-file - and that's where the rally will begin at 11:30 a.m. The Tribune has a handy map in case you're more visually-oriented when getting directions. We'll have several staff members there soaking in the fun. If you're there, feel free to share your photos in our Flickr Pool for possible posting here on the site! more ›

Photos from the annual May Day march which took on an immigration theme this year. more ›

• In his budget address today, Gov. Quinn called for a hike of the state income tax from 3 percent to 4 percent to help avoid education cuts.
• Police have released information - including name and photo - of the suspect in last week's Southwest Side rapes.
• WBEZ has background on today's immigration rallies.

As we mentioned yesterday, there was a pro-Conan O'Brien rally down at NBC Tower and a decent crowd showed up to give CoCo their support (and raise some cash for Haiti at the same time). You can view more photos from the event here and here. Of course, the rumors are already swirling about a new domain registered by one of NBC's rivals [via], so who knows what's next. more ›

Some 250 Chicagoans braved both the cold weather and Marathon madness to converge on Daley Plaza in a solidarity rally for the National Equality March Sunday, which also just happened to be National Coming Out Day. more ›

So the day is almost upon us. In fact, a long day of Olympic activities will kick off not only in Copenhagen, but also Chicago not long after midnight Chicago time. That's when - at around 1:45 a.m. our time - all four cities will have a chance to present their case to the IOC one last time. Every major network in town will carry it live both on television and stream it on their website. The IOC will also stream all the fun via their website. For the three of you still awake and on this site at that hour, I'll be covering it as well right here. Once that's all wrapped up, the voting begins. So how will the voting go down? The Tribune's James Janega is all over that question and breaks it down for us. more ›

We'll have more on today's event at the White House, supporting the 2016 Olympic bid, tomorrow, but for now, check out some photos from today's events. Mayor Daley introduced Michelle Obama who, in turn, introduced her husband, President Barack Obama. Below is a clip of Obama's speech. more ›

Taking the reins from Hispanic-focused immigration rallies, hundreds of Asian and Pacific Islander immigration advocates will gather for a “town hall meeting” in North Park today, Chicago Breaking News reports. more ›

Governor Quinn and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis were among the democratic leaders at Federal Plaza Tuesday pumping up organized labor and liberal advocacy groups in support of President Obama’s health care reform proposal. Hundreds attended to unite against the current insurance system and build momentum for the president’s proposal. As no good rally is without counter-protestors, conservative activists like Eric Odom also made a showing, he told Chicago Breaking News: “We basically feel the legislation being pushed through (is) very dangerous”, and “We are really pushing for everybody to take a deep breath and really look at what we’re getting into and not just jump into something…that’s going to cost us for years to come”. more ›

"I've spent all my life in America," said Saman, 29. "But I feel connected to everything back there. And it's clear from what we're hearing that something is wrong with the elections [in Iran.]" Saman, who gave only his first name, said his mother was singing the Iranian national anthem along with the protesters via cell phone for most of Tuesday afternoon as a fraction of Chicago's Iranian community rallied in protest of the allegedly falsified elections. "She knows all the words, [to the song, Sorud-e Melli-ye Iran]" he said. "They left Iran before the [1979] Revolution." Saman said he had to read the Persian lyrics, supplied by organizers, to keep up with her. more ›

Yesterday's announcement by the California Supreme Court that they would upheld Prop 8 had many gay rights supporters upset, even here in Chicago. Over 600 supporters showed up in spite of the rain for a rally held in front of the Center on Halsted. more ›

Update: The California Supreme Court has voted to uphold the controversial Prop 8. The final vote was 6-1 in favor of upholding. The 18,000 gay and lesbian marriages already recognized will remain legal. Sister site LAist has more coverage. Salon has the full decision here [PDF, all 185 pages of it]. more ›

No one knows - yet - how many tons of food were collected during the local mobile food drive known as the Chiditarod this year - but more than 500 participants spent a damp Saturday afternoon hauling at least 25 pounds of food per team over the finish line. more ›

If you missed Round 1, check them out here. more ›

Tim already told you about yesterday's Prop 8 protest rally, so here's our first round of pics from the rally, including some reader contributed pics to our Flickr pool. more ›

Gay and straight, black and white, young and old came together yesterday in Federal Plaza to protest the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which amends California’s constitution banning any marriage that is not between a man and a woman. Reportedly, over 2,000 people gathered, banners and rainbow flags in hand before marching on City Hall and eventually to Michigan Avenue. more ›

Last night, about 150+ protesters showed up outside the Renaissance Hotel, where the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications was inducting into the Radio Hall of Fame Focus on the Family’s James Dobson. Dobson donated $800,000 to California’s Proposition 8, which passed last week, amending California’s constitution, removing the right of gay men and lesbian women to marry. more ›

The CTA, Metra and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications are all working to handle the throngs of people expected to show up at Tuesday night’s rally in Grant Park. Complicating the plan is that they really have no idea how many people will attend, but they are planning for an event similar to the annual July 3 fireworks display--on steroids. more ›

Well, this is interesting. Even as the Obama campaign has limited the number of tickets and is focusing on security concerns, our benevolent mayor has invited any- and everyone down to Grant Park next Tuesday night, tickets be damned! more ›

The Sun-Times had a nice semi-overhead shot of the rally site in yesterday's paper, but we figured we'd go check out the rally site from locations that will look more familiar to any of the estimated million-plus people that are going to show up to Hutchinson Field in a little under a week. more ›

City firefighters and paramedics have been asked to take home their gear so they can speed deployment during any emergency that might occur during the election night Obama rally in Grant Park. The order begins next Wednesday, and continues through until two days after the election. more ›

Cubs officials, dignitaries, celebs, Blago and Daley, and, of course, Cubs Nation came out for a post-season rally in Daley Plaza over lunch today. more ›

A "food desert," by definition, is a geographic area with no or distant grocery stores served by a plethora of fast food restaurants. An estimated 500,000 Chicago residents live in a food desert and the health implications can be staggering. more ›