U.S. Senator Dick Durbin had a gastro-intestinal stromal tumor removed from his stomach today. The surgery was performed at the University of Chicago Medical Center and doctors have given him a good preliminary prognosis that the cancer is not more widespread. more ›

• On again, off again: the abortion notification law is on hold once more after a judge issued a restraining order on it this afternoon at the request of the ACLU.
• According to prosecutors, the man accused of causing a wreck that killed a pregnant mother and the baby - delivered by emergency c-section after the crash - had cocaine in his system at the time of the crash.
• Mick Dumke breaks down Mayor Daley's interview with WBEZ from earlier in the week.

It's not nearly as devastating as the Bears losing Urlacher in Week One - especially given the fact that the Cubs season is already done - but another Chicago athlete is done for his season. Alfonso Soriano will have surgery on his bum left knee tomorrow, meaning he's done for 2009. Soriano says rehab will take six weeks and he should be ready to go by Spring Training 2010. As always, just wait til next year... more ›

The Sun-Times is reporting this afternoon: "Elective and non-critical surgical procedures are being postponed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Monday after a ventilation problem in a group of surgical rooms forced the closure of several rooms." Issues with the ventilation may not be resolved until tomorrow night and the hospital is working to prioritize surgeries so that the most critical get performed first. more ›

There are few words we come across - at least within the local sports pages - that concern us more than "Brian Urlacher" and "neck surgery" in the same sentence. Yet that's what greeted us in bold print in Friday's papers. Following a routine post-season physical, a problem in Urlacher's lower neck that affected the curve of his cervical spine required "minor" surgery to correct. Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey wondered, "[I]s there such a thing as a routine surgery for someone whose job revolves around catapulting himself head first into running backs and quarterbacks?" more ›