The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shut down Ravenswood Bank on Friday reported the Chicago Sun-Times, making it the 23rd Chicago area bank to be closed since the beginning of 2009. All of Ravenswood's accounts will be handed over to Northbrook Bank & Trust Co. Northbrook's takeover involves a loss-sharing agreement with Ravenswood, which the FDIC estimated will cost close to $68.1 million. On Saturday, both of Ravenswood's two branches--2300 W. Lawrence and 320 E. Northwest Hwy. in Mount Prospect--reopened as Northbrook Bank locations. The last bank closed by the FDIC was Midwest Bank in May.
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A body in a lane of the Eisenhower Expressway has led to the shutting down of all outbound lanes of the highway between Kostner and Laramie this morning. A CTA worker reported the body on the highway around 7 a.m. this morning. [Tribune] more ›

How many of you read that headline and thought we were referring to Hot Doug's? more ›

Apparently when it comes to Health Department re-inspections, Bar Louie on Randolph doesn't bother trying to correct their infractions. They failed their re-inspection yesterday with exactly the same violations that caused the Department of Public Health to shut them down in the first place. more ›

The City Health Department, acting on a 311 tip of no running water, shut down Hearty Boys Catering today after finding a list of violations, including no hot or cold running water on the premises, a broken walk-in cooler that was failing to hold food at 40 degrees or colder — the cooler was no colder than 57 degrees — and food in the cooler at similarly unsafe temperatures (including cooked pasta, hot dogs and other food). We've placed a call to Hearty Boys co-founder Dan Smith for comment and will update if and when he returns the call. more ›

The city Health Department shut down El Paraiso Bakery (1158 W. 18th St.) today when inspectors discovered "mouse feces 'too numerous to count' throughout the premises." Our heart skipped a beat when we read the e-mail subject line "City Health Department Shuts Bakery in Pilsen;" the first one to pop in our mind was Bom Bon. Whew! more ›