A chef and artist serves up a Texas death row prisoner's last meal—and you can join the dinner party. more ›

The Texas parks and Wildlife Department has released this short video of wildfire spreading rapidly though a small section of a Texas state park. more ›

Amid the political wrangling over state budgets that's taking place across the United States (except North Dakota - they seem to have it under control), another Republican is leaving Illinois for warmer climes and lower taxes. Roger Keats, a former Illinois State Senator and the Republican sacrificial lamb to Toni Preckwinkle candidate for Cook County Board President, told the Wilmette Beacon that he and wife Tina will be leaving the Midwest for warmer climes, less corruption and a state with a brighter financial future: Texas. "This is a wonderful place to live," Keats told the Beacon Herald. "But I am tired of subsidizing crooks, and I don't want any more of it." Family ties also influenced their decision. more ›

It's been just over a month since Bears running back Cedric Benson was arrested for boating while intoxicated, and now Benson's in trouble with Austin, Texas law enforcement once again -- he was arrested last night and charged with drunk driving and was released from the Travis County jail this morning. Police pulled Benson over after he allegedly ran a red light, and based on the results of a field sobriety test cops hauled him off to the hoosegow, where he supposedly declined to take a Breathalyzer and blood test. more ›

Yesterday's primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island saw John McCain assume the mantle of the Republican presidential nominee, with commanding victories in all but Texas, and Mike Huckabee's announcement that he's withdrawing from the race. "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been, but now what must be -- and that is a united party," Huckabee told told supporters in Dallas. After it became clear that McCain would sweep all four races, Barack Obama called McCain to congratulate him on winning the nomination, adding that he was looking forward to facing the Arizona senator in the general election. more ›

In a race that may be a precursor to the Ohio and Texas Democratic primaries in March, Barack Obama won a decisive victory in Wisconsin last night, leading Hillary Clinton by nearly 20 points. He also won Hawaii, taking over 75 percent of the vote in a state where he had campaigned as a "native son." His victories last night mark his ninth and tenth consecutive primary or caucus wins and put his pledged delegate count at 1,140. Clinton has 1,005 pledged delegates. When you add in committed superdelegates, Obama leads Clinton 1,301 to 1,239, with John Edwards's 26 delegates still in play. Chris Bowers at OpenLeft points out that Clinton has now surpassed Jessee Jackson's 1988 total of 1218 delegates. 1988 saw the highest number of delegates ever won by a Democrat who did not win the nomination. more ›

Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primary last night, bringing his winning streak to eight, and eclipsing Hillary Clinton in the delegate count, 1,059 to 956 among pledged delegates. more ›

Obama's landslide victories in the "Significant Saturday" contests - including Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and the Virgin Islands, and his Sunday win in the Maine caucuses, could break the deadlock over pledged delegates for the Democratic nomination. Obama is hoping that these wins will generate the momentum that he needs to carry Ohio and Texas on March 4. Rhode Island and Vermont hold their primaries that day, too. Obama's wins this weekend were bad news for Hillary Clinton, who tried to inject a ray of optimism by announcing that her campaign had raised $10 million from over 10,000 donors. Obama's campaign quickly announced that over 350,000 donors had already contributed this year. more ›

Sometimes you just want a little peace and quiet, even if you're hardcore heroes At The Drive In and Sparta founder Jim Ward. It was after a Sparta tour last year that Ward returned home and unplugged the amps, seeking a new way to approach the art of songwriting. He went into his home studio and carefully crafted and recorded 5 delicious, folk-tinged but firmly indie-leaning tunes that he's released on the appropriately-titled Quiet EP, with help from friends in Ambulette and The Secret Life of Sparrows. Now Ward is taking the stripped-down show on the road, playing a series of dates in the Midwest and his native Texas before heading down under to Australia and New South Wales. Chicago is lucky enough to be one of those stops, and fans of Ward's more well-known projects won't be disappointed by this intimate look at the man's songwriting process and considerable melodic chops. more ›

Made in Chicago has been buried under snow and soot for a minute, but on a cold, wintry day such as this, we're digging it out with another homemade gem to share with all of you to help you finish out the week. more ›

It's the end of the line in our pre-coverage of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival, which can only mean one thing: you're well-prepared for the weekend rockness. more ›

Oprah is getting her a cable network, OWN ("Oprah Winfrey Network"), which will--gasp--replace the Discovery Health Network. Noooo! We all know what Oprah wants, Oprah gets, but we freaking love the Discovery Health Network. [Trib] more ›

The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival kicked off last night and continues through January 13, a smörgåsbord of comedy stylings from 99 troupes from across the U.S. and Canada. Intrepid performers leave the comfort of California and Texas, brave delays at O’Hare, and risk negative comments on their MySpace pages—all to entertain you. Organizers estimate 10,000 of you attended last year’s event and, with fest favorites like Elephant Larry, Canadian Content, Cool Table, and Big News returning, this year’s crowds will likely be just as huge. more ›

Lots to rock about over the next few days, from Modest Mouse at the Congress, to Bob Pollard at the Metro, to our beloved Hall & Oates at the UIC Pavilion, but DDaN's gonna keep it live and local this week. more ›

If there's one thing we brought back to Chicago with us after our six years down south, it's certainly our love for smoked meats. We'd always loved ribs as far back as we can remember, but exposure to true Southern BBQ raised our expectations to a whole new level. We learned that meat is meant to be lovingly smoked for hours in order to achieve the perfect symphony of tastes and textures. more ›

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did... more ›

That's right, we've got a pair of tickets to catch Texas indie kids Voxtrot at the Metro this Thursday, October 4, with The Little Ones and Sleeping States. more ›

Someday, when we're laying in our death bed, wishing for just a few moments more with our loved ones, we're going to think, "Good God damn, I am dying at 76, and I've lost 146 days of my life sitting in a car." The 2007 Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transit Institute is out, and guess what? Traffic here sucks balls. In the bad way, not in the fun way. Chicago ranks third in... more ›

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom... more ›

If you’ve played along Chicago’s lakefront this summer, then you may have noticed the 124 sculpted, painted globes designed by artists with the intent to inspire and empower the public to take action against global warming. Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet dots the lakefront north of the Field Museum and at Navy Pier. “Cool Globes presents a vast array of solutions with a clear message: We can solve the problem,” the exhibit’s... more ›

We've been hearing about director Kevin McAlester's disturbingly intimate look at Roky Erickson's life for quite some time, anticipating the documentary's arrival in the Midwest. And tonight we don't have to wait any longer. "You're Gonna Miss Me," is a documentary that outlines the story of Erickson, who made his name as lead singer from the 13th Floor Elevators. As the story goes, Roky was arrested in 1969 for carrying one joint. He entered an... more ›

The Chicago Fire may have found a spark in Cuauhtemoc Blanco that Chicagoist hopes helps the club ignite a run to the playoffs. The Mexican star made his debut with the Fire on Sunday when the team played an international friendly with Celtic FC of the Scottish Premier League. Blanco marked his debut with a beautiful goal in the 30th minute and continued to entertain the crowd with cheeky back heel passes and deft touches... more ›

We think even our grandfather knows The Police are playing Wrigley Field tonight, and he lives in South Texas. Their two-night stand in Chicago certainly wins the award for most hyped show of the year (and we've definitely been guilty of adding to the pre-show buzz). Even though tickets have long been sold-out, enough people bought extra tickets ahead of time in hopes of making a profit that the re-sale market for tonight and tomorrow's... more ›

Although many here in Chicago don't celebrate today as a holiday, June 19 marks Juneteenth, a day commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery Texas, and the end of slavery in the US. On June 19, 1865, 2,000 Union troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the Texas and enforce the emancipation proclamation, more than two years after it took effect. Recognized in 14 states (including Texas) as an official holiday, it... more ›

The fireworks continued to fly this past weekend at the again-not-so-Friendly Confines. Derrek Lee became the latest member of the Cubs to throw a punch, when he went after San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Young in the fourth inning after being plunked on the hand by a pitch. The altercation led to a bench-clearing brawl. In addition to Young and Lee, Padres pitcher Jake Peavy and Cubs hitting coach Gerald Perry were also tossed from... more ›

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network." It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by... more ›

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried... more ›

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried... more ›

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA... more ›

Who didn't pump gas today? Well, most people we know would raise their hands, because we are all hardcore green-living fanatics who live by the code of Al Gore, and we walk everywhere, but some people live and die by that bubbling crude, oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. Today was "Don't Pump Gas" day, but unfortunately, when we rolled out of bed this morning a little late and turned on the TV, we... more ›