• The Blago jury requested and received a transcript of the testimony of former deputy governor Bradley Tusk.
• Authorities in Dolton are seeking a driver who killed a bike-riding teen in a hit-and-run accident as the driver fled police.
• Another lawsuit has been filed against the City's new handgun laws.

• Rep. Mike Quigley got a Congressional resolution honoring the Blackhawks passed, though there were five 'no' votes.
• Interesting story from LAist in the wake of our post on the latest Critical Mass mess here: the L.A. Critical Mass group held a ride the LAPD and all went well.
• Mark Kirk, still apologizing.

With the trial of former Chicago Police commander Jon Burge set to resume with jury selection on Monday, WBEZ has recruited John Conroy, who originally covered the accusations and investigations extensively for The Reader, to blog the trial for them. It's a great get for WBEZ given the depth and breadth of Conroy's knowledge of the case; his still chilling 1990 piece "House of Screams" essentially broke the story wide open. more ›

• In his budget address today, Gov. Quinn called for a hike of the state income tax from 3 percent to 4 percent to help avoid education cuts.
• Police have released information - including name and photo - of the suspect in last week's Southwest Side rapes.
• WBEZ has background on today's immigration rallies.

Mayor Daley's recent calls for expanding the city Inspector General's authority over the rest of the city council got me thinking about a Chicago Reader blog post by Mick Dumke that ran last month. That's because back in 2007 when Jesse Jackson Jr was beating the drum of reform in the city, pushing a slate of candidates (including his wife, Sandi) for city council that would challenge the mayor's stranglehold on civic discourse in the city, take apart the Chicago Machine and clean up the corruption that's the most public secret in town, he published a ten-point ethics package designed to make Chicago government make sense for regular people (hat tip to Reader reader Hugh for the link!). Strangely, only one has come to be - broadcasting all city council meetings on the internet, although expanding the purview of the city IG ranked number six on Junior's list. more ›

This week, we're counting down the top 9 stories of 2009 according to the Chicagoist staff. more ›

• Chicago-based United Airlines has officially retired its full fleet of 737s.
• The Chicago News Cooperative continues to lure writers away from the Tribune. [via]
• The on-again, off-again fuel surcharge on the city's taxis goes into effect once more starting tonight at midnight.

• The Reader's resident investigative badasses, Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, do it again, explaining to us the city's shadow budget.
• The CTA wheels and deals on parking lots and vending machines to garner a little cash to close their budget hole.
• The sale of the Old Main Post Office is back on again.

The Reader's Jake Austen went looking for the first Jackson 5 single, recorded right here in Chicago over 30 years ago. What he found, instead, was the earliest known recording of the band. It's a fascinating story and you can read it all here. more ›

With all the doom and gloom about the city's 2010 budget, it seems the always-on-top-of-things Whet Moser of The Reader has zeroed in on a pretty easy solution: TIFs. more ›

One last, self-indulgent note before we bow out for the day. Chicagoist went live on May 10, 2004 featuring a design you can see above (via the Wayback Machine). Since then, we've had ups and downs but it's been one hell of a ride. Five years is an eternity in internet time, so thanks to Jen, Jake and all our benefactors in NYC, thanks to Rachelle and Margaret for getting the ball rolling here, thanks to every single writer who has posted - past and present - for your hard work, and last but most importantly, thanks to all of you readers who keep coming back every day. We hope to see you tomorrow night at our celebration, and we'll see you back here next week as we start the next five years. - M.G. more ›

We've gone on and on and on and on about this parking meter clusterfuck in town, but the Chicago Reader's team of Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke has easily topped us and anyone else by offering the most thorough, comprehensive, (and all-around best) look yet at the entire history of this deal gone wrong. more ›

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Chicago City Council has passed on a proposal that would have made TIF documents available for public view. The bill's sponsors, Aldermen Manny Flores (1st) and Scott Waguespack (32nd), had accumulated a list of 20 council members (themselves included) in support of the package, but the bill was still tabled. The Reader's Mike Dumke breaks it down: more ›

How weird, after reading a particularly sharp and on-point criticism [via Gapers Block] of The Reader's consistent decline in quality in the recent past we came across earlier today, we now learn that the company that bought the paper in 2007 -- Creative Loafing -- has just filed for bankruptcy. They claim this move will alow them to reduce the cuts to editorial staff the company had planned, but given how the weekly's changed since being bought we're not exactly sure that's good news. more ›

Today's must-read: The Reader's Whet Moser discovers the Chicago Tribune was not such a big Martin Luther King fan back in the day. more ›

...than Ed Smith's video blog? As alderman of the West Side's 28th Ward, Smith has a reputation as (sort of) an independent. Coming into office with Harold Washington in 1983, Smith was behind the smoking ban, has pushed for federal prosecution of former police commander Jon Burge, and generally annoys Mayor Daley. Now he wants to be Cook County Recorder of Deeds. As The Reader's Mick Dumke pointed out, this election may be the Year... more ›

Bad news out of the Reader offices: Harold Henderson, John Conroy, Tori Marlan and Steve Bogira were fired yesterday. Henderson and Conroy were two marquee names for the paper: Conroy has written the definitive chronicle of police torture in the City since 1990, and Henderson has written one jillion crotchety stories over the years. Sleep with one eye open, Ben Joravsky! According to editor Allison True's memo, Unfortunately the financial pressures of our industry continue... more ›

Hearts all across Chicago were broken last January when Zephyr closed its doors. We walked past its former space a few days ago and wouldn't you know, construction workers were busy building what looked to be another restaurant. Alas, it won't be Zephyr 2.0 but rather an Irish-style bar and restaurant (pictured), opening in March 2008 (to their best estimate). The workers didn't know what it was going to be called. New York Times writer... more ›

The Reader's Guide to Late Night Dining is now online, and there's the expected eclectic mix of diners, hot dog stands, taco joints, upscale pub grub, and places where only the fearless dare enter. Even better is that the range of offerings encompasses a wide stretch of the city and connecting suburbs (big love for Gene & Jude's Red Hots in River Grove!). If you're at the stage in life where "I'll sleep when... more ›

Can Mike Madigan and Rod Blagojevich please, please get a reality show? That way, when they have a "nonproductive" meeting like they did today, we have a full serving of drama to go with our intense disappointment and frustration? Today's meeting, between Blago, Madigan, Mayor Daley and state legislative leaders, was an attempt to make progress on the state transit funding...oh, let's call it an "issue." (Clusterfuck? Mess? Problem? Bargaining chip? Dick-wagging contest? All... more ›

The Reader is officially a one-section tabloid--but that's not the only change. It's also coming out a day earlier (out on Wednesday, listings start Thursday), Deanna Isaacs’s column is now in the front, Mike Sula has a weekly column, and the layout is a lot more open and colorful, with more call-out text and larger graphic elements. Upon cursory inspection, the content seems about the same. It's a change, but we're liking it.... more ›

Everyone loves Bonnie Hunt, right? So much she should have her own talk show? A stroller is "a child's wheelchair?" WTF? This is why we sold our condo and refuse to go co-op. Today you can check out the Nature Center at night. You can see "raccoons, opossums, skunks, and even a flying squirrel." How about a talking moose? Remember how The Reader used to run BobWatch so you didn't have to read Bob... more ›

Well, Creative Loafing hasn't even owned the Reader for a week, and already the Tampa-based company is leaving its mark. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason announced Friday that the Old Gray Doorstop's going to become a traditional tabloid. In addition to moving ad and page design and some production functions of the paper to Atlanta and printing the paper to Fayetteville, N.C., Eason told Crain's Chicago Business that they're going to combine the Reader's three... more ›

Pitchfork has announced that the super-affordable three-day passes for their festival, along with tickets to Friday night's bill (featuring one band we're really excited to see), are already sold-out. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are still available. But believe us when we say that with a line-up including (and this is just a teensy sampling) Cat Power, Girl Talk, Oxford Collapse, The New Pornographers, Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, Klaxons, and The Ponys, we're sure... more ›

While the state government devolves into a teeming cesspool of Machiavellian intrigue and self-loathing (quickly becoming an annual tradition in one form or another here in the Land of Lincoln), the world of politics moves on. While we have no problem kicking around Blagojevich (and the other asshole cynics downstate), this week, we're putting it aside, damn it! With out further adieu, here it is, your dose of news before lunch: Daley Takes his Public... more ›

Schadenfreude put media professionals and bloggers on stage at their near-monthly Rent Party Friday night for an Alternative Media Slam/ Free For All / Put Down Insult Tournament. The Schad organized this inaugural competition out of respect for our work and because they wanted to see four local institutions sling muck at each other. And sling we did. Before we get into who called who what and who’s momma was being disrespected, let's be... more ›

The Trib’s Blair Kamen looks behind the facades. Specifically, those salvaged historic facades slapped onto newer buildings in and around the city core. Sadly, it might be the best compromise available to preservationists in a development-hungry city. The accompanying slide show reveals some smart, respectful conversions at the Reliance Building, Hotel Burnham, and the Oriental Theater. WBEZ’s Secret Radio Project will be renamed :Vocalo. Yes, the colon is included, likely as unpronouncable as India.Arie’s dot.... more ›

Wellsir, after much hemming and hawing, it is done. The last nail was rammed into the coffin yesterday for the Farwell Building. At a special meeting to determine the edifice’s fate, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved a plan to destroy it and rebuild it entirely, using only the current façade in the new construction. Commissioners passed it sweepingly with an 8-1 vote, believing that this was the best fate for the crumbling Farwell. Technically... more ›

It looks like the Tribune has more than just money and stockholder problems these days. Glommed from the Reader's Food Chain blog yesterday is this article about the politics of modern eating. In her attempt at writing a humorous piece (vegetarians are acid casualties with their own bad eating habits, haven't heard that before), Emily Nunn comes across instead as obstinate toward and proudly ignorant of what we would know about where our food comes... more ›