• Police continue their investigation and have offered a reward in the murder of Lawndale resident Regina McGraw.
• A Cook County judged ruled in favor of Joseph Reyes, a father who wanted to take his young daughter to Catholic church during his visitation hours. The decision came as part of a divorce proceeding between Reyes and his wife, Rebecca Reyes, who asked for an injunction as she was raising their daughter Jewish.
• Two Kentucky men were arrested at the downtown Hyatt over the weekend for having $50,000 in counterfeit money, a suspected "date rape" drug, weapons and fake i.d.'s. No word if they'll also be charged for their hairstyles.

One of Chicago's newest aldermen, Bob Fioretti (2nd) is taking heat from one of the city's older hotels. The 14-story Congress Plaza Hotel, designed and built to accommodate visitors to the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, has been embroiled in a strike with UNITE HERE Local 1 since June 2003. According to Crain's Chicago Business, the hotel, owned by Albert Nasser Shayo, a Syrian globe-trotting businessman with residences in New York, Argentina, and Switzerland, who... more ›

An Alderwoman from Illinois' second largest city has been sending letters to lazy citizens asking them to take their Christmas decorations down. Second Ward Alderwoman Juany Garza's beef is simple, "They didn't do that in Mexico," she said. "I don't remember my mom leaving the Christmas ornaments up the whole year." Aurora is almost one-third Mexican, so south-of-the border traditions matter there, we guess. more ›