Remember the Salahis, the infamous alleged White House party crashers? The couple had been finalists for a D.C.-based edition of Bravo's love letter to why the terrorist hate us, the "Real Housewives of..." series and many saw their gate-crashing at a White House state dinner in November as a publicity stunt, something the Salahis denied. Today, The Daily Beast reports that the Salahis wound up landing that tv gig and have already taped 12 episodes. After the state dinner incident, the White House grilled the Secret Service over the lapse in security and held hearings on the matter. And while White House officials denied the gate-crashing incident had anything to do with Desirée Rogers stepping down as the White House Social Secretary, Rogers was still heavily criticized for the incident and speculation remains as to how large a role it really did play in her leaving. [via] more ›

The Salahis weren't the only uninvited guests at last year's State dinner. The unnamed guest entered with Indian Prime Manmohan Singh and underwent all security checkpoints. The Secret Service said via a statement that the person, "went through all required security measures along with the rest of the official delegation at the hotel, and boarded a bus/van with the delegation guests en route to the White House." It's something the Secret Service and Congress can dig into as they keep investigating how the Salahis got into the November event. [Tribune] more ›

The world's current most-famous-not-famous couple - Tareq and Michaele Salahi - appeared on this morning's Today Show and insisted they weren't party crashers. The Salahis weren't paid for their morning appearance according to host Matt Lauer. Saying their lives had been "destroyed," the couple insisted they weren't party crashers. When Lauer pressed the couple on who specifically invited them and a claim by a White House liaison that they were told she couldn't extend them an invite, the couple seemed to insist they were invited but side-stepped a direct answer by saying they were simply working with the Secret Service. Tareq also insisted this was all started by a gossip column and said, "I'm certain we'll be exonerated." In a separate interview with the Today Show, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs - after discussing something about some war happening in Afghanistan - dismissed the couple's claim, saying, "You don’t show up at the White House as a misunderstanding." more ›

Do you recognize the couple pictured above with President Obama? A week ago, we would have all said no. But thanks to some shenanigans by a pair of gate-crashing, reality show grubbing jerkstores during one of the slowest news weeks of the year, we can't help but know. Tareq and Michaele Salahi, previously known for nothing at all, are finalists for a D.C.-based edition of Bravo's love letter to why the terrorist hate us, the "Real Housewives of..." series. Without an invite, the couple showed up to last week's White House state dinner - held in honor of India's Prime Minister Singh who was visiting - and managed to give the security the slip. The couple isn't on the list of guests released to the AP, anyway. After a photo of the couple with VP Joe Biden surfaced, initial reports claimed that the couple didn't meet Obama. As the photo above - released by the White House - shows, though, they sure as hell did. more ›

Yesterday, CPD Supt. Jody Weis said he's asked the U.S. Secret Service for help enhancing the video of the brawl that killed 16-year-old Derrion Albert. The USSS has complied and it seems like there are results. As WBBM 780 reports, Secret Service spokeswoman Kristina Schmidt said, "We do have some preliminary results that we have shared with the Chicago Police Department, and we continue to work further to come up with additional results." A CPD spokesman said no arrests have been made and it's too soon to discuss the results of the analysis. more ›

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis has asked the public for help in identifying more of the teens involved in last week's violent brawl that left four teens injured and one, 16-year-old Derrion Albert, dead. At a press conference yesterday, Weis said, "Almost all of the offenders in this case were students, or were former students from [Fenger]. You kids know who they are. Please call in. You've got three people who probably need to be arrested because they had contact and struck Derrion." Weis added that he's asked for help from the U.S. Secret Service to aid in enhancing the available video of the brawl with hopes that it will make identification easier. more ›

Come October 1, you'll notice fewer police cars near the Obama family's South Side home. the Chicago Police Department announced they would be ending their security details at the home after ongoing discussions with the Secret Service. However, spokesman Roderick Drew said the CPD will still have some sort of presence at the house. According to the Tribune, the CPD has spent $2.2 million (through July of this year) on the security detail at the house of which $1.5 million will be reimbursed. more ›

The First Family is making their first visit to Chicago since President Obama's inauguration and the FAA is putting airspace restrictions over Chicago in place this weekend for security reasons. The temporary restriction will be in place from Friday through Monday. According to Crain's, "The center of the restricted area will be near the lakeshore on the South Side and will extend up to 30 nautical miles from that point, the FAA said. All airspace up to 18,000 feet above ground will be included in the restricted area." The request for the restriction was made by the Secret Service and the FAA promises it won't affect any commercial traffic in and out of O'Hare and Midway. more ›

If you work in the Loop, particularly in the vicinity of the Kluczynski Federal Building (230 S. Dearborn) you've probably noticed a heavy police presence thanks to President-Elect Barack Obama, who has a temporary office in the building while he waits to move into his new official office. And while the city certainly celebrated Obama's election victory a few weeks ago, more people are growing a little frustrated with immense security. more ›

We know, everyone is suffering from Obama-overload. But we thought this was pretty cool. The Secret Service has given the incoming first family their code names. The President-Elect is named "Renegade." Sasha as "Rosebud"? Someone in the Secret Service must be a Citizen Kane fan. And President Bush as "Tumbler" just makes us giggle. Biden as "Celtic" is interesting, and while he doesn't look anything like Larry Bird, we encourage Joe to look at growing a Bird-esque mustache. more ›

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. filed FOIA requests following reports that high-ranking Secret Service agents circulated racist e-mails, one of which joked about the elder Jackson's assassination. more ›

One of Chicagoist’s few lingering memories of grade school was dental hygiene films. Those things scared the bejeezus out of us. Rotten teeth loomed large in darkened rooms, while Vincent Price’s voice double warned us of the horrors of plaque. Keep that shit up long enough, we were taught, and you get zero teeth. Oddly enough, that’s what a local dental practice’s patrons ended up with, as well as mountains of debt. more ›

About 17,000 union members, along with their friends and their families, filled the south end of Soldier Field for a debate, hosted by the AFL-CIO, among the Democratic contenders. A sweaty sea of union members in colored T-shirts, representing everyone from the Service Employees International Union to the United Steelworkers, from the AFSCME to the IUPAT, drank cold bottles of water and listened to Democrats talk about how their administration would work for working families,... more ›

Counterfeit $100 bills have been stacking up at bars and restaurants in the Rush and Division and River North areas faster than empty Viagra bottles in their men's rooms on a Friday night. Ala Carte Entertainment, which owns 30 area establishments, says almost $10,000 in phony Benjamins have been passed over the past month. The Secret Service (they do more than protect the President) held a seminar on detecting the funny money at Excalibur Thursday. more ›

The Secret Service does not screw around when it comes to threats on the President. Remember last year when the Secret Service paid a visit to Columbia College when they featured some artwork with an image of President Bush with a gun to his head? So it’s a safe bet that British TV director Gabriel Range will be getting a call soon about his new pseudo-documentary Death of a President. The film was shot here... more ›

If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that stupid is an equal opportunity employer. Stupid doesn’t care how old you are, where you live or how much money is in your bank account. Stupid comes in all shapes and sizes. more ›

El photo via Minneapolis Red Sox more ›

Seven-vehicle accidents that kill two people and shut down a freeway for six hours usually make big headlines. But when one of the victims was traveling in a car with $2 million in cash and checks and a bunch of unused credit cards and IDs, well that's when the feds get involved. The crash happened yesterday at about 1 PM on the southbound lanes of the Stevenson Expressway near the Harlem Avenue exit. Apparently a... more ›

Back in fourth grade, Chicagoist tried to get away with a lot at school, but it was things like chewing gum in class or playing tackle football on the playground when the teachers weren't looking. Three fourth graders in Gary set their sights a little higher, printing up almost $300 worth of fake bills on their home computer. Chicagoist had a computer back then too, an big Texas Instruments typewriter-thing that you connected to a TV, but we couldn't get past the novelty of typing four-letter words on the screen. We were so apathetic. Put these kids in an AP class. more ›

The show is described in a press release as, "An international exhibition thematically peeking into the depths of evil through the print making form of the postage stamp sheet." The exhibition is an extension of the book "Axis of Evil: Perforated Praeter Naturam." more ›