Nike is once again turning up the volume on our summer with its Nike + Human multi-city 10K race on August 31st. Twenty-five cities, from Tapei, China to Los Angeles, will host runs and activities with an eye towards charity - participants can raise money for any of the three Nike-chosen causes: The Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research, the World Wildlife Fund, and the UN's ninemillion.org program to offer aid to youth refugees. Now,......

The Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle closed off registration on Monday after reaching its 30,000 runner capacity. The event, now in its 29th year, is the kickoff to the outdoor running season and is Sunday, March 30; it includes both an 8K run and a 5K fitness walk. According to executive race director Carey Pinkowski, "more than 90% of our participants from the area," so it's a very local race. If you are disappointed that......

There's more than just choosing candidates for President at stake when the Illinois Primary rolls around February 5. For instance, in our home 3rd Congressional district, puppet incumbent Dan Lipinski is facing an actual opponent this time in Assistant State's Attorney Mark Pera. Lipinski owes his seat in Congress to the greasy maneuvers of his father, Bill. The elder Lipinski, who held the seat for 22 years, won the Democratic Primary in 2004. Amid denials......

The clock is ticking, lovelies--get those presents purchased and fast. If you still need some last-minute help, though, take the Chicago bus to these three stores where we can practically guarantee you'll find something. We'll be running posts like this all week, so if you know the perfect store, drop us a line: tips@chicagoist.com You still need a present for: Your mom, your sister, some who recently moved, or someone who likes kitsch, quirky jewelry,......

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

Wow, Alderman Tom Tunney has been having an interesting couple of months. First he gets a ticket for talking on his cell phone while driving and may have received special favors from the police department, then he makes a sweet deal and moves his flagship Ann Sather's, and now it's being reported that Tunney was the victim of an attempted holdup yesterday afternoon just a block from his 44th ward office. Five teenagers, who apparently......

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Jim Oberweis campaign will be announcing “a major endorsement” today, and that that endorsement will be from Dennis Hastert. Oberweis is running for the 14th Congressional District seat that was vacated when former Speaker of the House resigned earlier this year. Although Hastert endorsed Oberweis for US Senator in the 2002 Republican primary, Jack Ryan won that race, later withdrawing after his (sexy) divorce files were unsealed. An......

Liar, liar, half-man half-goat sculpture on fire! Turns out the Art Institute's "Faun" sculpture is a big fat forgery. The sculpture is not in fact the work of French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin but is instead a fake, made by Shaun Greenhalgh, whose family has been running an international art forgery business from England for the last 17 years. The Art Institute bought the statue from a private dealer in 1997, and the dealer......

...than Ed Smith's video blog? As alderman of the West Side's 28th Ward, Smith has a reputation as (sort of) an independent. Coming into office with Harold Washington in 1983, Smith was behind the smoking ban, has pushed for federal prosecution of former police commander Jon Burge, and generally annoys Mayor Daley. Now he wants to be Cook County Recorder of Deeds. As The Reader's Mick Dumke pointed out, this election may be the Year......

Tomorrow Liar's Club is hosting the Fourth Annual Toy Drive To benefit the Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital Pediatric Playroom. They are hoping to provide toys and supplies to the KidsRehab program at the hospital. The folks at Liar's Club told us, "KidsRehab works with children who have sustained serious injury and need extensive physical, occupational and psychological rehabilitation." They need a whole bunch of stuff for the kids in the program (look after the jump for......

Chicagoist demanded it, and Lovie listened. When the Bears face the Minnesota Vikings next Monday night, Kyle Orton -- our favorite drunky QB -- will once again line up under center. With a 5-8 record and three games to play, it's time for the Bears to start planning for the future. Rex Grossman's contract is set to expire, and he's done little to make the Bears want to commit to him for the long term.......

Uck. Grey crappy icy Sunday afternoon. No Bears game - just the memories of Thursday's injury plagued horror. If only it were 1940 - it was during this weekend of that year that the most lopsided NFL games ever played took place - and the Bears whooped the Redskins' ass 73-0. The below video from that game is titled The Greatest Block in NFL History - it might not be the absolute greatest of all......

There were some — certainly not here — who thought that the Bears' playoff hopes were still alive heading into Thursday night's game against the Washington Redskins. Returning to Chicago after losing 24-16 in D.C., they're not quite mathematically eliminated, but their hopes are undeniably dead. In addition to losing any hopes for making the playoffs, the Bears also lost quarterback Rex Grossman in the second quarter. While we await the official diagnosis, the replays......

We really, really, wish we'd come up with the phrase "amuse-douche." Nicely done, Menupages. Chef Frank Brunacci is going to be at the helm of the restaurant in the yet-to-be-completed Trump tower. Michael Nagrant interviewed him and says he's "more of a haute comfort food purveyor than a food scientist," even though he likes to sling "shark bacon and olive oil ice cream." Check out the podcast here. File this under things we are pumped......

The only thing worse than being on a Greyhound bus at 3:15 a.m. is having that bus spin out of control and crash. Luckily, no one was killed or seriously hurt, but 17 passengers were injured when a bus from Chicago wiped out in Indiana. In other Indiana transit-problem news, a Chicago-bound South Shore train hit a pickup truck in Gary this morning, killing the truck's driver. The 212 and 214 trains will not......

Tatsu Aoki might be best known for his steady bass playing alongside Fred Anderson and Yoko Noge's Jazz Me Blues. He's also an educator (he teaches film at the Art Institute), founder and artistic director of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, record label head and producer, and a tireless musician exploring the limits of his instrument and himself. Aoki's endeavors earned him designation as a "Chicagoan of the Year" by the Tribune in 2001.......

After rumors that Jon Bon Jovi would be the guest judge on last week's Project Runway proved to be false, with Sarah Jessica Parker filling the celebujudge role, Chicagoist was hoping that he might venture to show up on this week's episode. As Tim Gunn led the contestants onto a soundstage, we held out hope, but instead were treated to...Tiki Barber? Yes, the former NFL running back/Today Show correspondent was the challenge subject and guest......

Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. of the 21st ward was hit with a lawsuit this week that claims he owes $41,819.18 in back rent for the Loop offices of his law practice. Brookins didn't know about the suit until the Sun-Times contacted him. Sounds like a fun phone call: S-T: Hi, this is a reporter from the Sun-Times. Brookins: [dryly] Grand. S-T: I'm calling about the lawsuit. Brookins: The what? S-T: The lawsuit? That your office......

Hey, don't forget we're running a contest to win some cool Thrill Jockey swag through tomorrow. Have you entered yet? Today the label also released a night-by-night line-up for their big birthday shows in Chicago next month, although set-times and running order are still under wraps and will remain so. We suppose they want everyone to get there on time, since you will have no idea when your favorite act(s) is(are) playing. They're also releasing......

In the mood for a beer and debate about the war tonight? Considering some of our comment threads on politics, we thought so. Globally Occupied Attention (GOAt) presents a discussion titled Could a Draft Cool Talk of the War? at Schubas tonight. The army is running thin on volunteers, even with clever ad campaigns and more recruitment incentives. Is it time for a draft? And if the draft is reinstated and politicians' children are at......

The Bears announced what Chicagoist suspected when we saw Cedric Benson remain on the ground following a 21 -ard run in the second quarter of Sunday's game: the injury will cut his season short. Benson will undergo surgery on his ankle that will shelve the Bears running back until next year. The Bears running game was a major area of concern even before the injury. The Bears are averaging only 85.3 yards/game -- third worst......

Chicagoist almost turned off the TV when the Denver Broncos scored to go up 34-20 on the Bears on Sunday, and we're willing to bet a fair share of the Bears fans at Soldier Field fled the cold rain about then as well. Fortunately, we decided to stick it out and saw a most improbable win, as the Bears scored two late touchdowns to tie the game and Robbie Gould kicked a field goal in......

On a weekend where gratefulness is foremost on our minds, it’s unfortunate that crime keeps moving forward. We’ll lead off with one story for which we can be thankful is not all bad news:Remember Nicolas Orbovich, the concert violist whose 1892 instrument worth $100,000 was stolen from the back seat of his unlocked car in a Michigan City, Indiana, Wal-Mart parking lot? It’s been found, with the help of Lake Station, Indiana, pawn shop, Orbovich’s......

We've been digging SceneUnseen's photos all week. Al fresco dining during a free Pritzker Pavilion show (a.k.a. stuffing your face while the Joffrey Ballet grooves) On any given weekend, there's always something new and worth seeing on a Chicago stage. Tried-and-true shows like Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and Improvised Shakespeare, perfect for treating out of town guests to a laugh. Friendly, helpful people are running the tawniest art galleries. Free......

File this one under "Color Us Surprised": Obama was interested in girls, drank alcohol and experimented with drugs in high school. Obama made a campaign stop at a study hall in Manchester New Hampshire yesterday and answered students' questions. Prior to meeting with the students, Obama unveiled an $18 billion plan that would expand public education from pre-school through 12th grade. He also criticized No Child Left Behind. To their credit, the high schoolers had......

U.S. Soccer announced the selections for the 2007 Best of U.S. Soccer Awards and Chicago has several representatives in the competition. For Best Fan Atmosphere Chicago's Soldier Field gets two nods: one for this sSummer's Gold Cup Final in which the United States defeated Mexico and the other for the U.S. game versus Brazil in September. Chicagoist is voting for the Gold Cup game--it wasn't the most pro-U.S. crowd, but the fans filling Soldier field......

Check, Please! just launched an interactive video-based website today where visitors may send in restaurant recommendations and audition for the show. The site also contains over 300 reviews from the show's run, the one-minute segments that began running on NBC 5 on Tuesdays and Fridays (NBC 5 is a partner in the site). Now you can look up recent reviews in case you missed a recent review or just want to view a truncated......

Today's Sun-Times has an interesting article on restaurateur and Chicago native LaVan Hawkins, who's opening Nancy's Pizza and Al's Italian Beef franchises even as he's set to go to prison on corruption charges. The biography of Hawkins is a true rags-to-riches, rise-and-fall-and-rise-again story starting with his early years running in a gang and battling drug addiction, then from working his way up from the lowest rung at a McDonald's to commanding a fast-food franchise empire......

The Bears headed out Seattle, a place where they hadn't won since 1976. They returned to Chicago still having not won out there since the Ford Administration, falling 30-23. What went wrong this time? Amazingly, perhaps it was not giving Cedric Benson the ball enough! A week after he gained 73 yards on 28 carries, Benson ran for 63 on just his first two carries on Sunday. Or at least somebody wearing his jersey on......

For just short of 57 minutes, it was not a pretty game. We're glad we endured it, however, to see the Bears finally come alive in the final three minutes and turn a 6-3 snoozefest deficit into a 17-6 victory against the Oakland Raiders. Chicagoist almost gave up in the second quarter, when Brian Griese went down with a shoulder injury, Rex Grossman entered the game... and preceded to fumble his first snap! D'oh! Well,......