Haley Pelock, 19, of Chicago Heights was shot dead on Friday night inside a Chicago Heights home. She was believed to be home for Spring Break from college. As of late Saturday, police were questioning a person of interest. An autopsy of Pelock determined that she died of a gunshot wound to the chest. Her death was ruled to be a homicide. more ›

Austinist got us thinking about the Mecca that is SXSW when they compiled their list of bands allegedly playing the conference. We decided that we should google and Myspace around and see which bands from Chicago may be heading down there during Spring Break, March 14-18. The list isn’t that big yet, but that’s because everyone is doing a better job of keeping their mouths shut until the official announcement comes next week. more ›

Fuckin’ finally! Chicagoist was beginning to think it was a great week for shitty news, but then we read this. Joe Francis, our best friend and maker of Girls Gone Wild, pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting minors in his videos and now must pay fines totaling $2.1 million. He will pay $500,000 out of his own pocket. His production company, Mantra Films, must pay an additional $1.6 million to settle charges from a similar but... more ›

to-the-stomach piece on Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild empire. When a tipster sent us the link to the article this weekend, we hastily passed it over without even opening the link, thinking it was some fluff piece on foam parties and topless girls gyrating to 120 bpms. Once we sat down and gave the article our full attention, we were sickened beyond belief and plagued with a number of thoughts on the state of our society. We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though … more ›

When Chicagoist was attending high school at Joliet Catholic Academy in the early 90s, a girl in our class totally got busted by the dean for carrying around a bowl in her purse. Back then, Chicagoist hadn't known what a bowl looked like, let alone smoked pot out of one. No one else really did, either. But it was the talk of the school - someone was smoking weed! more ›

Chicagoist and its fellow cinemaphiles have it rough this weekend. With the college crowd on Spring Break, most of our favorite off-the-beaten-path movie houses (Block Cinema, Doc Films) are dark. Don’t even get us started on the mainstream box office this weekend. We know The Ring was a big hit, but we saw the sequel the first time, you know? As for the new Woody Allen film, we’re skipping that one too. Unlike the family dog, we only have to be hit on the nose with a newspaper twice before we learn our lesson. And as much as we love Joan Cusack and Buffy’s little sister, we’re not sure we can bring ourselves to see The Ice Princess especially when our local video store has The Cutting Edge on DVD. Now THAT'S an ice skating movie. more ›

It's that time of year fondly known as "Spring Break" when the kids head to the tropical sandy beaches of... Chicago?! This year, our freezing city plays host to an alternative spring break for gay youth, ages 13 to 23. more ›