Photo by Brian Hagy A new study shows that proteins extracted from alligator blood fight all kinds of bacteria and viruses. "Before ordering up a quart of miracle healing elixir from the local gator farm, however, consider that raw animal blood, whether from gator or goat, can make humans sick — or worse." Thanks for the warning, Miami Herald! [MH] "About 11:45 p.m., a customer from the Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken and Biscuits in......

The city says there's no rat problem at O'Hare, despite yesterday's WGN report that there totally, totally is. A spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation says "there is no infestation," and a spokesman for the Department of Public Heath says there's no risk to food safety at the airport, which no doubt lead to the Trib's kinda funny headline "Cheese is safe at O'Hare." Heh. [Trib]......

Aldermen Helen Schiller and Danny Solis introduced a measure yesterday that would make feeding pigeons illegal. And the punishment would be up to $1,000 fine and six months in jail. Their proposed legislation reads... No person shall purposely provide food -- including, but not limited to grain, seeds, greens, bread crumbs and miscellaneous food scraps -- intended for pigeon ingestion on public property or property subject to the city right-of-way. Solis says pigeons deuce......

Hearts all across Chicago were broken last January when Zephyr closed its doors. We walked past its former space a few days ago and wouldn't you know, construction workers were busy building what looked to be another restaurant. Alas, it won't be Zephyr 2.0 but rather an Irish-style bar and restaurant (pictured), opening in March 2008 (to their best estimate). The workers didn't know what it was going to be called. New York Times writer......

- The Illinois Appellate Court ruled the city is not liable for negligence in the 2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse. - Hollinger Inc., the majority shareholder in Sun-Times Media Group, has taken control of the board, leading to speculation that it's stepping up efforts to sell the Bright One. - "Someone filmed a documentary about Thax Douglas?" Yup. View the trailer here. - William Heirens, the state's longest-serving prison inmate at over sixty years,......

We've all been there. The bus is packed as it is, asses to elbows to Timbuk2 bags. We're trying not to step on the granny sitting in front of us and trying to convince the proud older man with a cane that we don't want the seat that just opened up (even though we do, we were raised right!). The bus pulls away from the stop with a jerk and a block later, jams......

Rats are nasty. Chicagoist wouldn’t want our cat to tangle with one. We’ve all seen those scary “Target: Rats!” posters up in nearly all of the alleys in Chicago. We’re not really sure what the city does when they target rats, but we don’t really want to know. The town of Cicero will spend $8.43 per person this year on rat eradication in comparison to Chicago’s $3.32 a person, and part of their plan this......

The ever-popular TECH cocktail is fast approaching, but don't worry about this one; unless you were one of the lucky 500 people to RSVP yesterday, you won't get in. Version 4.0 of the popular social event for Chicago's techbiz scene is being held Thursday, April 12, at John Barleycorn's in Wrigleyville, but because of the limited space upstairs, it sold out in less than 24 hours. They've since posted details on waiting lists and standing......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending......

On March 3, teams will compete in the 2007 Chiditarod, an homage to the Iditarod dogsled race across Alaska. The Chiditarod tweaks the race by replacing dogs with costumed humans and replacing the dogsled with a shopping cart. Teams of five compete in a race to checkpoints throughout the Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park, and Bucktown neighborhoods — covering nearly four miles — before reaching the finish line. To keep the teams nourished, they will be......

The city claims to be winning its war against rats, according to a Streets and Sanitation official. Spokesperson Matt Smith told the Sun-Times yesterday that citizen complaints about rats are down 14 percent from last year. Smith credits increased baiting efforts and the roll out of new garbage cans with tightly fitting lids. Chicagoist wrote about a rat and mice infestation at City Hall last year in which we also quoted Mr. Smith, and now......

Chicagoist has been walking around a fair amount lately, and we have noticed that Chicagoans sure care about Halloween. We've noticed many fake spider webs, gravestones with plastic rats on top, orange lights strung all around the porch, and, of course, pumpkins. We've seen intricately knifed jack-o-lanterns, kids' first attempts at evil, and uncarved pumpkins the size of a small pony accented by corn stalks. That's a lot of pumpkins, people. If you chose......

Sorry for the title, but we had to get it out of our system. We predict that saying "(some kind of creepy-crawly animal) on a (some kind of uncomfortable place)" will be the new Bud Light "Wasabi/Wazzup" from a few years ago. Before the summer is over, the next time you hear some jackass say, "_blank_ on a _blank_" while giggling to himself, you'll want to slap the taste out of his mouth, so we......

It was just another Friday happy hour at the Hideout. Well, not including the BBQ going on and the fact that there just seemed to be more people arriving than normal for a show that wasn’t supposed to start until 10:30 pm. Sure, there was to be a 9:30 showing of George Bush being eaten by rats, but what did that really mean? After the sound check, we dutifully made our way to the back......

Sometimes you need to clean yourself up, get serious, and move in with daddie for a few months before you head to Latin America for a new gig. The District bid's Jenna Bush adios. D.C.-based television shows have an elderly audience and DCist has some suggestions to fix that. They're also throwing Butterstick the panda bear a birthday bash. Yeah, we may have a few issues with our World Cup broadcasters here, but this guy......

First of all, how many people knew that there was a plant on the West Side that made delicious corporate chocolate delights? Maybe many of you. But we can’t see you raising your hands eagerly in the air, so you’ll just have to bear with us and all the other poor saps who like to laugh at others’ misfortunes (especially corporate otherses) while we get our kicks. Fact: A factory producing M&Ms and Snickers Bars......

Normally Chicagoist isn't big into reporting on every restaurant/bar/whatnot that has its door shuttered for health code violations. But this one we couldn't let pass by. This morning, a Chicagoist operative was on assignment out in North Center (read: drinking many beers at the Globe watching the World Cup) when he stumbled on over to Lincoln Restaurant only to find the doors locked and a big ol' neon-green sticker on the front, which means......

We’ll admit, you had us a little worried last week, people. But you met our challenge head on and brought your stupid A game this week. We knew you had it in you. A Chicago Police officer is facing felony charges of forgery, counterfeiting and attempted theft after he was caught with $500 in counterfeit bills at an Indiana currency exchange in May. He attempted to exchange the fake $100 bills for a money order......

Chicagoist can’t help but dislike pigeons and their crap all over the Loop, CTA platforms, sidewalks and an already crappy City Hall. Despite city ordinances and common knowledge about feeding them (do not), the numbers of these fearless feathered-rats keep on going up. We heard they taste like chicken, and since we can't have foie gras anymore – pigeon a la carte anyone? Click on image for larger size.......

One day after a major European company got out of the aspartame business, a federal study was released that found consuming the sweetener does not, in fact, increase your chances of getting cancer. That seems like good news, because we love us some diet soda. The study, which monitored the diets of more than a half a million Americans over five years, found no link between the sweetener and the cancers that did end up......

If you watched any of the major local news broadcasts this week, you surely saw the story about a "rat infestation" at City Hall and the Cook County Building. But not the same rats causing all those scandals, har har har, as Warner Saunders and Mark Suppelsa assured us, but real live scritchin' and scratchin' disease carryin' rats. Gross! As it turns out though, pest control inspectors say the problem isn't rats, but their smaller,......

Yesterday convicted serial killed David Maust tried to kill himself by hanging himself in his cell. Today he died. The state might start requiring that every baby be born is tested for HIV, with or without parents' consent. Of course, AIDS activists, civil libertarians and health-care experts are in an uproar about privacy issues. Wilson Pickett died yesterday. Image of the flying rats via swanksalot.......

The Trib had a big story today about "Rats in the City" (we wish that was the headline RedEye used, instead they went with "Dirty Hairy"). There are about a million rats in Chicago and these are the neighborhoods most infested: Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Wicker Park, Bucktown. Disgusting. A kid in a McHenry high school got expelled for drawing a gang symbol in his notebook. The symbol included the initials DLK which the school......

Everyone's eaten airline food that tastes like shit, but no one really expected this: Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task Force reportedly shuttered an O'Hare warehouse containing snacks and beverages, intended for airline passengers, due to fecal contamination. Yum! The warehouse of Gate Gourmet, an airline food distributor, was closed yesterday after inspectors discovered more than 1,000 rat droppings nestled among the pretzels and beer. Mmmmmm, pretzels and beer... Chicagoist actually thinks these rats sound pretty awesome.......

An article in The Chicago Journal last week detailed the efforts of a Japanese television crew that sought to document the last vestiges of the Maxwell Street blues scene. The authenticity of the current scene could most charitably be described as “in question” (if for no other reason but its presence on Canal Street rather than Maxwell Street. Fortunately, the flag for Chicago blues is still carried nightly by an army of local musicians in......

Yesterday a jury found LaGrou Distribution System Inc., a food storage warehouse at 2101 W. Pershing on the South Side, guilty of violating the U.S. meat and poultry acts, conspiring to violate federal laws and mail fraud. LaGrou is looking at up to $42 million in fines and the company's president, Jack Stewart, could see 19 years in the pen and up to $70 million in fines. Sentencing is scheduled for May 26. According to......

The National Audubon Society's annual early winter survey found the number of pigeons in Chicago increased by 64% in 2003. Seems like a lot, but compared to the early 80's this is nothing. Back then there were an estimated 2.5-5 times as many pigeons around the Loop. Researchers say that you can't read anything into this one-year jump and that the increase could be nothing more than a statistical blip created by counters being in......

A Kane County psychic/spiritual advisor has filed suit to block a city ordinance that bans fortunetelling. St. Charles has a law on the books that states, �No person shall perform or practice within the city as a fortuneteller, clairvoyant, spirit medium, necromancer, seer, astrologist, palmist, prophet or in any other pretended art of telling past, present or future events of another's life or affairs, to obtain money or property by fraudulent devices or practices." Wha?......