While waiting for the Procession of St. Rocco to pass yesterday, we began to feel pangs of hunger. Rather than pray to the Patron Saint of Pestilence, we asked for a menu at Bertucci's Corner. The corner itself is known as "Bertucci's Corner;" the family has been a longtime presence in Chinatown and many members of the family are also members of the Order of St. Rocco. This place is one of the best known......

Tomorrow is National Rum Day. Normally we make fun of silly, profit-driven holidays designed by PR flacks, but in this case we’re totally on board. It may have something to do with the fact that we love drinking rum cocktails on mild summer days like this one. Here are a couple of drinks to try out on your friends this weekend! Cuba Libre The Cuba Libre is our favorite, simple rum-based cocktail. Invented during the......

A 22-year-old South Sid man has been charged with killingfive people in Chatham in April. Police say Torolan Williams was overheard talking about the murders, and they found a TV stolen from the scene of the crime in Williams's house. Police are currently looking for a second suspect. [S-T]......

The CTA is blaming operator error for this morning's Green Line derailment. According to CTA officials, the operator ran through a red signal light and also overrode an emergency system that would have prevented the derailment. The motorman has been a CTA employee for 31 years and has no recent records of safety violations. Hey, a perfect time to use our new stamp. [CBS 2]......

Breaking news: A Green Line train derailed near the 55th/Garfield stop, and preliminary reports indicate that several people were injured but none of them critically. According to CBS 2, "One train car continued due south, while another decoupled and veered off to the west." And the Trib notes that "the derailment occurred on elevated tracks, but the cars did not fall to the street," which is now our new nightmare. Photo via NBC 5 More......

South Side Irish Parade spectators. Photo by Devillibrarian. Who wouldn’t want to support an organization that raises money that helps sick kids? At least one South Side Catholic high school expressed concern that proceeds from the South Side Irish Parade will be going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which supports embryonic stem cell research in hopes of a cure for Type 1 diabetes. After talking with the JDRF, the high school decided not to......

It's a good day outside and with the combination of springing forward the clocks, the South Side Irish Parade Sunday, and warmer temps next week there are plenty of weeks to go out. Start the weekend off by leaving work early and heading to the Artisan Cellar at the Merchandise Mart, where they'll be having a tasting of the new-to-the area Graham Beck wines from South Africa. The free tasting runs from 3:30-6 p.m.,......

Probably not. But in the wake of a series of tax hikes levied around the Chicago area, it seems people are downright pissed. In northwest suburban Palatine, village council members are floating the idea of seceding from Cook County. Like other municipal leaders in towns near the edge of Cook County, council member Scott Lamerand is frustrated with what he sees as the potential loss of revenue to lower taxed counties just across the border.......

We're not sure than the 2008 White Sox will be any more tolerable to watch than last year's team, but they'll no doubt be easier to listen to -- at least on the radio. That's because Steve Stone will be replacing Chris Singleton alongside Ed Farmer, the team announced on Tuesday. Back in December, the Sox had announced that Stone would be joining the WSCR 670 radio booth for Friday home games -- a total......

Photo of our police vehicle of choice if we were on the force by Steven Crane The warm weather seems to have kept some of our naughty citizens somewhat at bay this weekend, but there was still some activity in Chicago's criminal justice world: Ex-alderman Dorothy Tillman was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama after a confrontation at her aunt's hospital. Be sure to click on the story for a rare photo of Ms. Tillman sans......

Above the deli case at Hyde Park Produce, there is a long maroon awning. This awning, visible from the store entrance, is inscribed “Welcome to Our Dream.” The love and hard work of the owners has paid off, and HPP should become a prime destination for all South Siders interested in great food. The store has been beautifully renovated - anyone who remembers the old 53rd Street branch of the Co-Op (the previous tenant of......

Chicago cops protecting and (ob)serving by TheeErin Here's what our local ne'erdowells have been up to while waiting in eager anticipation for tonight's Oscars: A man who robbed a downtown bank on Thursday told the teller he was "drunk" and was arrested minutes later. Personally, we prefer meth when robbing banks -- keeps us "on edge". [S-T] A gas station argument escalated into murder on the South Side. [S-T] The FBI Joint Terrorism Task......

The South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day parade will be held a week earlier than usual this year. Typically, the parade is held the Sunday before March 17, but this year, that's Palm Sunday, a major day on the Catholic calendar. So parade organizers moved the festivities up to March 9 to avoid any conflicts. We're not sure how much local St. Patrick's revelry will actually be affected by the Catholic calendar, since the ways......

While the talk around town has focused on the implications of Tony Rezko's indictment for Blagojevich, the national story has been how close he was to Obama. Although they first met in 1990, when Rezko offered Obama a job, it wasn't until 1995 that Obama worked with the developer. Obama was working for Davis Miner Barnhill, a Chicago law firm that represents developers who build low-income housing with government funds. In 1995, Obama worked on......

Unlike so many political figures in Chicago, Tony Rezko didn't come from a background steeped in ward politics and clout. In fact, after he finished his degrees at IIT, did what most new immigrants to Chicago do: he got a job. In 1984, Rezko went to work for Crucial Concessions, owned by Jabir Herbert Muhammad, former manager of boxer Muhammad Ali, and son of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam. Crucial Concessions had......

We love to read and write, and not just our own posts here on the World Wide Webs. We’ve been working on our first novel for years. It’s a love story involving time-traveling unicorns and so far we have about 850 pages of it written, but we don’t know when we’ll get it published (fingers crossed!). As such, we have a soft spot in our heart for local writers who have been a tad more......

Like his old man, Mayor Richard M. Daley is determined to transform public housing as part of his legacy (here's hoping it turns out better than Sr.'s effort -- several detractors don't have high hopes). His plan is creeping forever forward -- it's currently many years behind -- and the city will eventually replace CHA high rise projects like Robert Taylor Homes and Cabrini-Green with mixed-income housing. But in the meantime, those people whose......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Art Gabriel Mejia was born in the Chicago area and received his undergraduate degree from Northern Illinois University. Gabriel teaches art at Jones College Prep and says of his art, "I am interested in documenting, through painting and drawing, specific moments in time captured through candid photographs of people that I know very well." He'll......

Photo by The New No. 2, which also looks great embiggened.......

A teacher at Medgar Evers School on the south side has been moved to an administrative position during an investigation into an allegation that she used masking tape on a special education student to restrain him in a chair when he wouldn't settle down. The kid managed to wriggle free after a few minutes, and he and two other students narced and called the cops and DCFS. The communications director for Chicago Public Schools, Michael......

Here are some things going around town to make you consider giving the weather a big ol' raspberry. Internet: Still sad that Chciagocrime.org shut down? Interested in how do do your own Google maps mashup? Or do you just want to understand how hyperlocal mapping works? Then head to the Garland Room of the Chicago Cultural Center this evening at 6 p.m. where chicagocrime.org's Adrian Holovaty himself discusses how they work. Film: If John Sayles......

21st Ward Alderman Howard Brookins accepted Jesse Jackson's endorsement for Cook County State's attorney Sunday at Jackson's South Side Rainbow/PUSH headquarters. A Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll published today shows that there is no clear front-runner in the race for State's Attorney, and most of the county's Democratic power brokers have stayed out of the race. Jesse Jackson Jr endorsed Larry Suffredin earlier this year, ostensibly as part of the on-going feud between the Jacksons and Bill......

Chicagoist's general rule toward our vegetarian tendencies is, if we wanted a dish-chock full of meat, we'd eat it. As such, plates full of fake meat masquerading as juicy animal parts (a vegan Reuben sandwich, for instance) generally hold little appeal, and we instead opt for dishes full of clearly identifiable veggies or simple marinated tofu. That said, a recent sojourn to the south side neighborhood of Chatham might have made us a fake meat......

Former Chicago mayor Eugene Sawyer has died, following a long illness. Sawyer was 73 years old. Sawyer was elected alderman of the 6th ward on the south side in 1971, and continued to serve in that position for 17 years. But of course what Sawyer is most known for is as the successor to Harold Washington following Washington's death, as well as being the last mayor to serve before the eternal reign of Richard M.......

Understatement of the day: being in prison is no fun (at least it doesn’t look like it on Lock-Up). Even less fun is rotting away in a cell for almost 26 years for a crime you didn’t commit. Now imagine that the key to your freedom was sitting the entire time locked in a box in a lawyer’s office, who couldn’t reveal it due to attorney-client privilege. That’s exactly what happened to Alton Logan. Logan,......

Lincoln and Berteau by Minneapolois Red Sox CBS 2 news anchor Phil Antonio Mora is moving to Miami to do the news there. He says once he's gone, Chicago won't have any Latino nighttime news anchors. [S-T] A toddler died in a fire at a South Side daycare center this morning. [Trib] There are so many complaints against the CPD of excessive force that the Independent Police Review Authority is outsourcing some of the......

Columbia University professor Sudhir Venkatesh will pop a cap in your ass. No joke. It's been a week since Venkatesh's most recent book, Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets was published, and the critical response is unanimous: OMG! What a total badass! The book chronicles Venkatesh's experiences while conducting field work in the now-demolished Robert Taylor Homes. We know this gangbangin' prof; he's co-authoring a work-in-progress high-profile Chicago prostitution......

In the continuing soap opera that is our state's budget crisis, Governor Rod Blagojevich made a visit to Rev. James Meeks's south side mega-church, House of Hope Sunday to drum up support for his proposal of free rides for seniors on the region's mass transit system. Besides being pastor of the church, Meeks is also an Illinois State Senator, and is often allied with the governor. In remarks to the congregation of about 8,000, Blagojevich......

There are sixty bridges spanning the Chicago River throughout the city, as we found out last month at the annual B News neighborhood pub quiz. We know about the larger bridges downtown, and we stop to stare at them when the spans are raised to allow boats to pass. However, the majority of bridges spanning the river are smaller ones allowing traffic to pass between neighborhoods. We tend to overlook those bridges. This is......

State lawmakers are back in session, attempting to solve the little nightmare we call transit fundin. Things...are not looking so good, though. What's the governor doing? Watch for yourself! [AP] Construction workers found what appears to be a human skeleton in an abandoned house on the 4500 block of South Oakenwald. [Where?] An autopsy is scheduled for today. [NBC 5] Four of Jon Burge's torture victims will share a $19.8 million city settlement. [S-T]......