Looks like Annette Benning's hubby is free to don that yellow trenchcoat again, if he so chooses. more ›

• The Chicago Teachers Union has filed a lawsuit in another attempt to fight the proposed increase in CPS classroom size.
• The City Council’s Aviation Committee approved a proposed fee hike on O'Hare rental cars.
• The Wall Street Journal has a story on how Wal-Mart's rivals are allegedly using their own set of tricks to stop the corporate giant's spread in places like Mundelein, IL.

• Mayor Daley today said that he wouldn't increase property taxes for the 2011 budget.
• Authorities have released the contents of Phil Pagano's suicide note.
• A look at a Naperville-based company who's making some money from BP's clean up efforts in the Gulf.

We really can't get enough of Windy Citizen's new video section. Besides telling us how awesome Chicago is, we also got an old Sun-Times commercial featuring Roger Ebert. In the spirit of equal time, here's a 1987 commercial for the Tribune featuring the legendary Mike Royko. more ›

A trio of media outlets are asking U.S. District Judge James Zagel to unseal the Santiago proffer, the document that outlines the feds' case against the former governor that prosecutors filed under seal earlier this week. The Tribune, Sun-Times, and Associated Press made the request, citing the First Amendment. Lawyers for those outlets said, "Those rights, and the public's interest in their vindication, are of paramount importance in this case. No one could question the public's interest in receiving information about a case alleging public corruption at the highest levels of state government, including the alleged ‘sale' of a United States Senate seat by a sitting governor." more ›

Earlier this week, the Tribune investigated the lengths of yellow lights at intersections with red light cameras. The Trib has also offered up this visual aid to help understand the timing of those lights. [via] more ›

This morning, the Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch reports that the highest pay for CTA bus drivers ranks third in the nation at $28.64 per hour and, when adjusted for the city's cost of living, comes in first. The top bus driver pay in the nation goes to Boston's MBTA at $30.18 an hour; New York comes in sixth overall at $27.99 an hour. Top pay for Pace drivers is $24.93 an hour, 17th overall. The report comes at a time when the CTA is trying to draw the CTA unions to the negotiating table to reconfigure contracts in an effort to save the city money. (The current contract runs through 2011.) Hilkevitch reports: more ›

He's got a new cookbook to promote, was recently named the 2010 inductee into the Chicago Culinary Museum Chefs Hall of Fame and he's dropped 90 pounds thanks to cutting out sugars and exercising. Both daily newspapers have in-depth profiles on Art Smith today. Chris Borelli's writeup of Smith is a short Q&A where Smith touches base on his cookbook collection, turning 50 and being, in the words of the Smithsonian, "the most well-known openly gay chef in America." more ›

• Turnout for today's primary has been low so if you haven't voted yet, remember that polls are open until 7 p.m. tonight.
• Family and friends marked the second anniversary of the still-unsolved Lane Bryant killings.
• United Airlines is suing the City of Chicago for $1 million stemming from a February 2005 accident in which a United jet pulling out of its O'Hare gate struck a city maintenance truck.

We're closing in on next week's primary election and in the race for U.S. Sen. Roland Burris' seat, the expected leaders are at the front of the pack but there are still large numbers of undecided voters on both the Democratic and Republican side of the fence, according to a new poll from the Tribune and WGN. For the Dems, Alexi Giannoulias garnered a healthy 34 percent of those polled with Cheryle Jackson coming in at 19 percent and David Hoffman at 16 percent. Overall, though, the "undecided" vote still accounted for 26 percent. For Republicans, State Rep. Mark Kirk has a healthy 47 percent of the vote while 10 percent is split up among a smattering of candidates and Patrick Hughes has eight percent. But even with 35 percent of the potential voters polled answering "undecided," Kirk's lead seems pretty safe. The Trib has a pretty detailed breakdown of the poll's details as well as how the GOP voters polled support the Tea Party movement. more ›

• Crews continued to work this afternoon to recover the bodies of the victims of yesterday's plane crash near Wheeling as well as the plane's black box.
• A state panel okay'd the sale of Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government to house terror suspects.
• The Chicago Police Department is considering scrapping its entrance exam.

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 ›

Last week, word came down that the Tribune's Rick Morrissey was leaving the sports pages of the Trib to join up with the rival Sun-Times. Of course, as soon as Morrissey was out the door, you can guess who's name came up right away in whispered speculation: yep, Mariotti. We've been down this road before and, as Crain's Ed Sherman tells it, while Mariotti may be gung-ho to relocate to the Tribune Tower, the bridge there remains charred and smoking. more ›

Tribune Co, just weeks away from having to submit its reorganization plan, continues to reshape itself. Sam Zell announced today that he is resigning from CEO of the company, a position he held for just two years. Zell, who engineered the $8.2 billion buyout in 2007, will remain as chairman of the company, while Randy Michaels will take the reigns as new CEO. Michaels takes on the new position previously serving as COO of the company since May 2008, as well as executive vice president and CEO of Tribune's interactive and broadcast divisions before that. more ›

With the fun-loving center averaging a double-double this season (11.4 ppg / 12.4 rpg through seven games), Morrissey made good on his pledge to eat his words, covered in spicy Mexican condiment, at the Berto Center on Monday. He even had the whole thing taped for posterity. In penning his mea culpa, Morrissey confesses, "I stand before you a humbled man, having been set straight by a Bull who possesses energy, heart and, yes, ability." Now, if only we could compel Jay Mariotti to eat something much fouler tasting than paper and hot sauce for all the crap he's written...[Via NQTC]
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While we knew the New York Times was planning a local edition of its paper for the Chicago area, details emerged yesterday about the paper's specific plans. The news for the Chicago-centric paper will be handled by a group called Chicago News Cooperative. The CNC will include former Tribune editor James O'Shea and James Warren; the advisory board will be chaired by journalist Peter Osnos and another Tribune editor, Ann Marie Lipinski, is a board member. The group will receive a bulk of its funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation while also receiving assistance from WTTW. In fact, the CNC will start life as a non-profit affiliate of Window to the World Communications which happens to be WTTW's parent company. The Cooperative is also in talks with WBEZ for potential future collaboration. Two pages of Chicago-related news will appear twice a week (Friday and Sunday) in copies of the New York Times distributed in the Chicago area starting November 20. more ›

Mayor Daley's budget for 2010 has been presented and, as expected, there were no new taxes but lots of cuts. There will also be much taken from the parking meter lease fund. In fact, by this time next year, don't expect much to be left from the $1.15 billion/75-year deal, the deal we may have gotten hosed on. Having already spent $400 million of that money this year, according to the Tribune, Daley is looking to spend an additional $600 million of that money in 2010. We're no math geniuses and even we know that doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot left in the pot for the remaining 70+ years of the lease, something that concerned Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) earlier this week. All told, Daley claims that there will still be around $700 million left in reserve funds - the combination of the Skyway and parking meter leases - next year. A cut in the city's tourism budget also raised eyebrows. And besides the cuts to entertainment and furlough days for non-union employees and elimination of vacant jobs, there are smaller cuts, too, such as the scaling back of the city's recycling program. more ›

• In light of yesterday's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, a bankruptcy court judge has once more given the okay for the Cubs to be sold to the Ricketts family.
• If, in a few months, you feel like your copy of the Chicago Tribune is shrinking, you're not imagining it.
• An Indiana National Guard soldier committed suicide in a Muncie, Indiana movie theater last night.

A few sneaky Cubs fans, celebrating another title-less season, decided to have some fun with the gallows humor and pulled a fast one on the Tribune, placing an ad in the paper that had a hidden meaning. And by "hidden," we mean in the Kevin Nealon "Mister Subliminal" kind of way. But, hey, it's kinda cute and even the Trib had some fun with it. Wait 'til next year, indeed. more ›

Chicago 2016 chief Lori Healey went on the defensive about yesterday's Tribune/WGN poll which showed a drop in support for holding the Olympics here. Said Healey, "We've had tremendous public support for having the Games in Chicago. Polls are polls, and they move all the time." Right, we get that. But this poll is moving one direction: down. Originally, Chicago 2016 used a Zogby poll that showed support at 77 percent but an IOC poll released this spring showed support at 67 percent. The new Trib/WGN poll shows support at 47 percent. Even more telling is that the number of those opposed to the Olympics is at 45 percent, nearly equal to those that support the Games. And coming on the heels of an IOC report released this week that wasn't exactly glowing in its assessment of Chicago's plans, we'd imagine Healy and company might be sweating a bit. But from the sounds of things, no one's worried. more ›

Olympics support has dwindled to 47 percent, according to a Tribune/WGN poll released today. more ›

• Mayor Daley has promised he'll look into reports that as many as one in five CPS teachers change grades.
• Cellist Phillip Blum, "the longest-serving member of the CSO," has passed away.
• WBEZ has an excellent report on the large amounts of money residents of the South Side spend outside of their communities each year and the lengths some are going to to change that trend.

After the kerfuffle at the University of Illinois, it's the Chicago Public School System's turn to earn some scrutiny regarding clouted students and admission practices. Today, the Tribune is reporting that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin wrote a letter on behalf of a student who was rejected by Jones College Prep. The student was a relative of a Durbin staff member and, lo and behold, the student eventually was admitted via a process "that allows principals to handpick 5 percent of the incoming class." Though, as the Tribune points out, Durbin has done nothing wrong, those handpicked selections require letters of recommendations and are at the principal's discretion, and while the student's test scores were below Jones College Prep's requirements, they weren't that far below. So is there really an issue of clout here or is the Trib just trying to see what sticks? more ›

Earlier today, when asked about those "Jay Mariotti to the Trib on September 1" rumors, one Trib employee told us, "I haven't heard anything about it, sorry. And I would have heard something." We also posed the question to the Tribune's Gary Weitman, Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations, who told us, "This rumor is not true." Seems pretty succinct to us. Mr. Weitman forwarded our inquiry to Kate Mersman, communication manager for the Tribune, who we're still awaiting word from also told us, "I have no additional comment. The rumor is not true." Whether or not Mariotti ultimately ends at Tribune Tower in one form or another, at least it gives the Trib a little press on the day its Chicago Now blog network - Mariotti's originally rumored destination - moves out of beta and into "officially open for business" territory. Even their Breaking Tweets Chicago blog addresses the rumor but seems to ultimately wind up in pseudo-denial mode. more ›

It looks like all those rumors about Jay Mariotti returning to Chicago media are circulating again. Back in July, rumors swirled that the Trib's upstart blog network Chicago Now was trying to land Jay but now sports blog SportsByBrooks reports that once Mariotti's non-compete clause concludes at the end of this month, he'll join the Tribune as a weekly columnist. We've reached out to a few folks we know at the Tribune but the only response we got from one worker there was, "I haven't heard anything about it, sorry." We'll update if we hear any addition info from the Trib. more ›

In case you haven't noticed - but chances are you probably have - the Chicago Tribune has gone live with its new redesign. It's a bit tab-heavy, but we kind of dig it. To the right side of the page is a feedback button which, when clicked, brings up a window that allows for, well, feedback (pic #3 above). So it seems like it's still a work in progress. Perhaps the biggest grievance we have with the redesign as shifting the "Chicago Breaking News" window to below the main story and, for us, anyway, forcing us to scroll to get to it. But, otherwise, we see some promise in the site's new look. Agree with us? Think we're crazy? Let us know in our comments. more ›

The Tribune's James Janega was embedded with the Illinois National Guard in Afghanistan and just recently returned home to Chicago. Today's he's filed this outstanding story and you can catch up on more of James' stuff (accompanied Tribune photographer Jason Wambsgans) here at the Afghan War Blog. more ›

Sky Full of Bacon 11: A Better Fish from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.
• Mike Gebert visits Carl Galvan and Supreme Lobster Company, one of the country's largest fish purveyors, about the volume of seafood they sell while maintaining sustainable pracitces. [Sky Full of Bacon]
• Phil Vettel and the Trib's resident "Mayor McCheese" Kevin Pang debate pizza pie slices versus the familiar square party cut. Sorry, Kevin: we're siding with Phil on this one. [Tribune]
• Jennifer Olvera gets canning tips from Paul Virant. [Sun-Times]

The Tribune isn't taking the battle for applicant data in the case of the University of Illinois's clout list lightly. Last week, they ran a list of state legislators complete with statistics on how many students each has helped. Now, they've filed suit against the University for the release of applicant data, including, "the immediate release of grade point averages and standardized test scores of the hundreds of college applicants placed on an internal list of well-connected students." School spokesman Tom Hardy said, "The university believes it has a strong legal case and we are prepared to make it." more ›

• The Tribune brings us the story of "April's Mom," a blogging hoax from the suburbs.
• Today a judge ordered psychological testing for the 14 year old boy who impersonated a cop and, a few months later, stole a car.
• The Sun-Times has the story of a nine-year old boy who was set on fire in what's been described by police as "a prank gone wrong."