As if summer coming to a close weren’t enough to stir up our seasonal depression, now we hear the Farmers' Almanac is predicting a nasty winter in our neck of the woods. The almanac, which boasts an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate for weather forecasting, claims that two-thirds of the country will experience lower-than-average temperatures, and the upper Midwest will experience more than its normal share of snowfall. Almanac editor Peter Geiger believes......

The City of Chicago is fighting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over nearly $6 million in federal disaster money the city used for snow removal in 1999 and 2000. In a complaint filed in federal court, the city says that it had a right to use those funds to clear runways at O'Hare and Midway. FEMA has been trying to recover those funds for three years, contending that airlines should have paid for snow......

Our feelings about this recent winter progressed like this: we were initially excited about the cold and snow, were merely tolerating it a few months later, and now we are completely sick of winter and want it to GO AWAY. It’s been a pretty snowy time of it these last few months, and with yesterday’s seasonally invasive snowfall, it has officially become Chicago’s seventh snowiest winter season since we started keeping track of these things......

Wintry mix ≠ out like a lamb. [NWS]......

Photo by Katherine Of Chicago James Hole of Brookfield allegedly murdered Ann Nelson, his 71-year-old real estate agent. He says he became upset when Nelson asked why he wanted to look at houses he could not purchase. [AP] Downers Grove's tornado siren malfunctioned last night and blared for about an hour, from 1-2am. D'oh! [Trib] Ron Huberman wants the CTA's hybrid buses ASAP. [CBS 2] Speaking of the CTA, why don't you write yourself......

Afraid you weren't going to get a few more chances to bust out your winter gear? Rest easy. We're looking at snowy thunderstorms tonight and chances of snow Thursday and Friday. [NWS, image by Pantagrapher]......

Photo by Jeanneg ATA is going to stop flying out of Midway. Nooooo. [Trib] OK, Sun-Times, we get it. You don't want Sam Zell to sell the naming rights to Wrigley. But interviewing a 99-year-old man and claiming that this is his "wish"? A little much. [S-T] Gary Police Chief Thomas Houston, Deputy Chief Thomas Branson and Sgt. Thomas Decanter were indicted today on charges of violating civil rights. [Trib] We know this is......

Chicago Transit Authority We woke up this morning to another fresh coat of snow on the ground. While we're certainly among the ranks of those who just wished this winter would end already we have to concede that we have lived through worse. When the words "blizzard" and "Chicago" are uttered in the same breath two years immediately come to mind. We weren't born in 1967, but we sure as hell remember 1979 and......

What's With the Two Inches?...

Our pal Matt over at Spud Art spotted someone's victimless urban prank, and wondered.... Heee. Looks like we've got landmarks to snowball, friends.......

So the big snow wasn't all that big after all. At least not in Chicago. Parts of Wisconsin got 20 inches. Ayee! But the lousy weather was indeed shocking--five people were sent to the hospital last night after they received mild electrical shocks, possibly from a bum wire in a utility pole. It's the third electric shock incident in the last few days. To the surprise of no one, about 1,000 flights were canceled out......

Fellini once famously said that there are two things that always look great on film: trains and snow. Just in case you're a bit tired of looking at all the snow outside, which by now is more like evil slush, here are some suggestions for your Netflix or greencine queue so you can get a good look at some snow on screen: 1. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams [1990] The most harrowing sequence in this film......

Efroten spots an ice snake, Coma Toast (heh) spies the world's cutest snowman, and Jeanneg makes sure we're watching our step.......

The snow's coming down pretty hard outside Chicagoist's home offices, and we're getting cabin fever. Maybe we should make something out of the snow.... like.... A snow wall. All you need is stamina, artistic talent and a flood light. Oh, there's so much more where that came from.........

This time it's for real. Probably. The snow we were supposed to see yesterday is actually coming today and local weathermen (and weatherwomen) are predicting even more snow than initially reported. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning until 6pm today with up to 12 inches of snow in the forecast. With temperatures at or below freezing, the snow will be wet, heavy and mixed with ice. Bleh. Strong winds are also......

Storms last week, additional snow last night, and a forecast that says there's more snow and rain heading our way this week...well, we're looking at a bunch more days of wet shoes. At least we'll have some happy eyeballs: Above, by ChiDN, and below, by Nick D.......

mmmmarshall captures the new Chicago winter wonderland: Millennium Park With Mega Tuesday looming, Oprah readies to hit the campaign trail again for Barack Obama, along with Caroline Kennedy. It looks as though Obama Girl's fifteen minutes of fame aren't up yet. Neil Steinberg and Eric Zorn give us a modern recasting of the Ballad of John Henry. A double dose of Drew: while attorney Joel Brodsky says recent photos acquired may show Stacy Peterson......

Brooklyn-by-way-of-Boston quartet Via Audio is no stranger to serendipity. A couple of years back, singer Jessica Martins passed Spoon drummer Jim Eno a disc of demos at one of the iconic indie band's Boston shows, and Eno immediately invited the young foursome to record at his studio in Austin. That's a tale of near epic proportions, but critical praise for the group's soothing, bedroom-meets-radio-ready pop in the vein of the Decemberists or Snow Patrol has......

There are no shortage of opportunities to see a theater performance in Chicago, and that certainly applies to children’s theater or theater based on children’s literature. A number of of these productions have enjoyed some popular success as well. This goes to show that these performances are not attended only by dutiful schoolchildren, but are considered to be viable options in the Chicago theater scene, due to the effort and imagination that goes into adapting......

Deer heart? Human heart? Page out of Snow White? Someone found a possibly human heart in the woods at Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood. Eeeew. [S-T] How much do CTA employees make? Ron Huberman: $198,000. Bus and rail operators: $34,240.96 [S-T] RIP, Whad'ya Know?. WBEZ won't carry the Wisconsin-based show anymore, though you can still listen to the podcast. [Trib] It's gonna rain all night, so bring your umbrella. A Chicago man has been charged......

Yesterday a low-pressure system swept across our region, ripping up trees, knocking out power and pulling the roof off at least one house. We're feeling Harper's Index-y, and we're giving into that feeling. 11: People killed in storm-related car crashes yesterday 88: Miles-per-hour that winds were gusting off the lake 215,000: Homes that lost power yesterday 15,000: Homes still without power as of last night 300: Flights canceled from O'Hare 100: Flights canceled from......

While some grumps were complaining about all the snow this weekend, other people were using the icy stuff to fashion random acts of kindness. Our friend Danielle found this little guy on top of her car and decided to name him Steve. How about you? Did any of you find any unique surprises built out of this weekend's accumulation of flakes and drifts?......

mjkmjk calls this a "snow person of indeterminate gender," but we're getting a very strong Jabba the Hutt-meets-Marjorie the Trash Heap vibe.......

Thee Erin's title and caption for her photo, above, absolutely slays us: "'When did we become a civilization that dressed for the crowd and not for the individual?' 'Speak for yourself Bob. I taped my ankles.'" Wonderful. "...a masterwork of nausea that is only matched by the breakfast burrito and whiskey sour I enjoyed to prepare for this competition." Joshua Allen provided the commentary for today's dizzying round of Layer Tennis. The CTA workers......

Sure, you may be hungry like the wolf for the Duran Duran show tonight (get it? Hungry like the wolf? Duran Duran? No? Nothing?), but the big show we're excited about this weekend is taking place at The Metro Saturday night. Hip-hop legends The Wu-Tang Clan hit the stage in support of their new record, The 8 Diagrams, their first record since 2001's Iron Flag and since the 2004 death of ubiquitous member Ol' Dirty......

Unless you stayed inside all day yesterday (and that wouldn't have been a bad idea, because it was dis-gusting out there), you couldn't miss the super-slippery sidewalks all around the city. An ice storm Saturday night made traveling around the city extra-treacherous due to the thin coating of ice on sidewalks. Chicago city officials, being their normal helpful selves, urged people to salt their sidewalks and walk carefully when it's icy. And also to look......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

If this week’s cold temperatures are any indication of what’s to come, we think we’re headed for a long winter. Today doesn’t provide much much variety, so we’d much rather stay in bed and cozy up with Tom Skilling, who is forecasting a nasty evening for all those office parties that take place tonight. The first of two storm fronts will move into the area this evening, bringing precipitation and wind. According to Tom, the......

Our pal Gena was at the John C. Reilly/Dewey Cox thing yesterday (where she took the picture above and a hundred others), and she tells us Reilly-as-Cox was amazing, "never breaking character and ad libbing with the best of them, sweating like a rock star and gyrating like one, too." He also busted out a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," which we want to hear so very badly. She adds, "The band was remarkably......

As Frank Burns says, it's nice to be nice to the nice. And it seems like people are getting on the kindness bandwagon today. First the Neighbors Project wants us to give out thank you for shoveling cards. The folks at NP will send you free postcards to pass out to your shovel-inclined neighbors to thank them for their magnificent de-snowing skills — and it's also a way to shame your blockmates into clearing......