Jon Burge's fate is now in the hands of the jury in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial after both sides gave closing arguments yesterday. Burge is accused of lying at a 2003 civil trial about the alleged torture of suspects during his time as Area 2 commander. During this trial, though, his defense team painted the accusers as liars and conspirators, scheming to take Burge down. As he's done for the entire duration of the trial, John Conroy offers the best recap at his blog at Vocalo: more ›

Steve Rhodes - Friend of Chicagoist, local journalist, and head honcho over at the excellent Beachwood Reporter - had been writing for NBCChicago.com for about a year, contributing a few posts a day about local news and politics that are much in the same vein of his work at Beachwood. But last Thursday, Rhodes resigned from writing for the website. Yesterday, he let us all know exactly why, and boy is it fishy. more ›

As our pal Steve Rhodes reminds us over at NBC, former Blago Chief-of-Staff John Harris served under Mayor Daley as his budget director and deputy aviation commissioner. Could the feds have an even wider net? Will Harris divulge things about Daley as well as Blago? Rhodes points out: more ›

• The University of Chicago has set up a site that allows people in Iran to fax their stories in to share on the web in the wake of the Iranian government's attempt to crack down on Twitter users. [via the Windy Citizen]
• Our pal Steve Rhodes wonders: if Lisa Madigan wants to run for governor, why does Obama want her to run for the Senate?
• An interesting read on the reform initiatives of Gov. Quinn.

• SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others.
• Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list.
• Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island.

Behold, Outside the Loop Radio's year in review special, featuring yours truly, Steve Rhodes of The Beachwood Reporter and Dave Schalliol of Gapers Block. more ›