Last night President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama honored Mexican President Felipe Calderon and first lady Margarita Zavala at their second state dinner. Guests included actress Eva Longoria Parker, actor George Lopez, Chicago's own gold-medal winning Olympic speed skater Shani Davis, and New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Entertainment afterwards included performances by pop singer Beyoncé and singers Rodrigo y Gabriela. And, of course, the meal was prepared by Chicago's Rick Bayless who - Twitter scandal aside - seemed to please guests with his meal of "herb green ceviche of Hawaiian Opah, Oregon Wagyu beef in Oaxacan black mole sauce, and for dessert, chocolate-cajeta tart, toasted homemade marshmallows and goat cheese ice cream with graham cracker crumble." more ›

An exciting two weeks of Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver came to a close on Sunday, and as the athletes head home from Canada, the United States delegation will return having won more Olympic medals than any nation in a winter games ever has -- 37 total, (9 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze). A number of those medals now hang around the necks of some of our local Chicago Olympians: more ›

Chicago's Shani Davis wasn't able to skate away with another gold medal but he did earn the silver in the men's 1500m speed skating race to go along with his earlier gold medal. Daivs finished with a time of 1:46.10, just .53 behind Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands. more ›

Shani Davis successfully defended his Olympic 1,000-meter title yesterday, joining Lindsay Vonn's downhill win and Shaun white's golden performance on the snowboard halfpipe as part of a banner day for the U.S. Olympic team in Vancouver. In the process Davis, who first started speedskating in Evanston, also made history by becoming the first speedskater to win 1,000-meter speed skating golds in consecutive Olympics. more ›

The Winter Olympics kicked off on Friday night with Opening Ceremonies a prelude to two weeks of sporting events on ice and snow. Given our own chilly climate, it's no surprise that a number of local athletes will be representing Illinois as well as the United States. And given the flat lands of the Midwest, it's also no surprise that nearly every single one of them will be donning skates during their competitions -- the local delegation includes seven hockey players, six speed skaters, three figure skaters/ice dancers, and a bobsledder. more ›

Chicagoland Speedskater and Olympic Gold Medalist Shani Davis just took the Gold Medal in the 1,000-meter World Single Distance Championships, in Nagano, Japan. He also wiped out the track record with a time of 1:08.99, finishing just .04 seconds ahead of Russian Yevgeny Lalenkov. more ›

McDonald's espresso for everyone! G-Rod proposing a new payroll tax. Two U of I football players caught stealing laptops. Ben Gordon drops 48 points on the Bucks, still not the game's top scorer. Speed skater Shani Davis breaks his own world record. Do you have State Farm auto insurance? You could be getting a $25 dividend on your policy. Pritzkers selling Presidential Towers. Was it the bed bugs? "Fire & Ice" via e.q.... more ›

Blue Loop photo via abmarfia more ›

Not since Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan have two skaters received such attention for their feud. This week, all eyes have been on American speed skaters Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick and their feud that began when Davis opted not to skate on the team captained by Hedrick in the Team Pursuit event. That decision is thought by some to have cost Hedrick, and the U.S., a medal and labeled Davis a selfish skater. more ›

Just days after Chicagoan Shani Davis claimed a gold medal in the 1000m race, fellow Chicago Olympian Benjamin Agosto and his partner, Tanith Belbin, earned a silver medal in ice dancing. It was the first medal in ice dancing for the United States in 30 years. Last year the pair was just hoping they would be allowed to compete in the Winter Olympics. Belbin, a native of Canada only recently became an American citizen. She... more ›

While the Winter Olympics have been filled with disappointing showings by American medal hopefuls, Chicago-area speed skater Shani Davis lived up to his advance billing by taking the gold in the 1000m long track speed skating event. The 2005 All Around World Champion, he's the favorite to win gold in the 1500 meter and expected to do well in the 5000 meter event. more ›

With the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics just a few days away we thought it would be fun to see who will represent the Chicagoland area in Torino, Italy. In all, there are nine hometown favorites to keep your eyes on. more ›