With the state feeling the financial crunch and reeling from that recent budget dust-up, we knew lots of folks we're going to suffer repercussions. One of the latest groups to feel the sting is a group of the state's college students who were denied financial aid. Why? Because they applied after the state's May 15 deadline, a deadline which, in the past, had been set much later. Then there's this, according to the Sun-Times: more ›

While much of the country is celebrating March Madness, it's March sadness for members of the Illinois Institute of Technology's basketball players. IIT announced that it's dropping both its men's and women's intercollegiate basketball programs. Playing in the NAIA, the Scarlet Hawks were a part of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and played against area schools like Robert Morris College and St. Xavier University. The school, known for its architecture and engineering programs was never mistaken for any kind of athletic powerhouse. more ›

The numbers to the left tell the story. Hyde Park Co-Op shareholders voted by a wide margin in favor of a buyout by the University of Chicago and close the store by the end of January. more ›

Northern Illinois University is closed today after police found racist threats written on a wall in a women's bathroom Saturday night. According to the university's website, Written in black ink on a restroom wall in the Grant Towers D complex were two separate entries claiming that “things will change most hastily” in the final days of the current semester. “Tell those n---ers to go home,” the first entry reads. “ME / OUT … Die... more ›

If you need further evidence that cultural awareness is increasingly non-existent among the general populace, look no further than college blog Campus Squeeze. Following on the heels of its list of the 20 most beautiful college campuses, the site recently weighed in on what they deemed the 20 ugliest campuses in the country. While the prison-style buildings of Drexel University and the utilitarian blocks at Rochester Institute of Technology certainly didn't look appealing, we... more ›

There are good ideas and there are great ideas. Doctors at Loyola University Medical Center have devised a way to make sure surgical sponges don’t get lost in people anymore. Hooray for medical technology! They’re going to put bar codes on the sponges, and a nurse will scan the sponge before it goes in and the system will tell the nurse if any sponges have been left inside. more ›

Ah, O'Hare. First your flight gets delayed, then there's a stinky but nontoxic cleaning agent used in the terminal, then your plane almost runs into another plane. Indeed, ye olde ORD has the second-highest number of near-collisions of any US airport. And according to a report from the GAO, O'Hare has six runways that don't meet the FAA's "runway safety area standards," and the airport had four "serious incursions," which is when two planes... more ›

Looks like Blago's at it again. State legislative leaders are meeting again tomorrow to continue working on transit/casino/construction/dick-wagging, with the plan to head back to Springfield next week for--all together now--a special session. Maybe they could have a Very Special Session in which we learn about molestation or suicide or teen pregnancy. Blagojevich met with three legislative bigwigs today, but Mike Madigan wasn't one of them. Schedulig conflicts, says Madigan's camp. Never RSVPed to... more ›

We usually wait until later in the day to post things that are awesome, but the Sun-Times says today's weather is "lifeless." Maybe everybody just needs an injection of stuff that doesn't suck. We're gaga for dinosaurs, so news of this mumified dinosaur made our nerd senses tingle. Even better? Phil Manning, a paleontologist at England's University of Manchester who is leading the examination, told Wired, "When I first saw it in the field, (I... more ›

A second teenager has been arrested in the string of robberies in Hyde Park the night Amadou Cisse was killed, but 17-year-old Demetrius Warren has not been charged in the murder. Warren has been charged with three counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated discharge of a weapon for firing a shot at an attempted-robbery victim who ran away. Yesterday, 16-year-old Eric Walker was charged in the murder. Walker has a juvenille record... more ›

Mayor Daley has finally announced his pick for new police superintendent: J.P. “Jody” Weis, an FBI agent who was most recently the head of the Philadelphia field office. The City Council still has to approve the appointment, but given that Ald. Isaac Carothers, chairman of the City Council's police committee, says "maybe going to the outside might bring a fresh look — a guy who knows no one and owes no one,” is anyone worried?... more ›

Long-time Republican Congressman Henry Hyde died early this morning at Rush University Medical Center. He was 83. Hyde served 32 years in the House before retiring at the end of last session, and he was recently awarded a Medal of Freedom. He's best known for his role as the chairman of the judiciary committee during the Clinton impeachment proceedings and for the Hyde Amendment, which bans Medicaid from funding abortions except in cases of rape,... more ›

The Chicago Bandits, our National Pro Fastpitch franchise, recently announced they are moving their from Lisle to Elgin. For the next three years the team will call Judson University their home. The university is making enhancements to a stadium to allow seating for 2,000, and the city of Elgin is considering building a stadium for the Bandits that could be ready by 2011. Two of the six teams in the National Pro Fastpitch league will... more ›

A 16-year-old boy, whose name hasn't been released, has been charged with first-degree murder, one count of attempted robbery with a firearm, three counts of armed robbery with a firearm and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm. He's being charged as an adult. Police are looking for three other suspects linked to the case. The suspects are all juveniles but will be charged as adults, the source said. They told police they needed... more ›

Police are questioning three people possibly connected to Amadou Cisse's murder. As of 2:30 this morning, no one has been charged with anything, and the U of C continues to offer $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. It's not clear yet if the people being questioned are connected with the red-doored, silver-bodied car police located last week. more ›

Happy 80th birthday, Alderman Bernie Stone! All the other aldermen threw him a surprise party today. Squee, cutest city council meeting ever. more ›

A University of Chicago PhD student was shot and killed last night on the 6100 block of S Ellis. Amadou Cisse, 28, was from Senegal and had just defended his dissertation. So far, police haven't identified a motive, but have corrected initial reports that called the shooting a drive-by; apparently, the shooter approached Cisse on foot. Police are, however, looking for a "dark-colored car" that was seen driving away from the scene. Image of Amadou... more ›

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the... more ›

Kind of a CPD-heavy day today. University of Chicago Law School professor Craig Futterman released a new study today titled "The Use of Statistical Evidence to Address Police Supervisory and Disciplinary Practices: The Chicago Police Department's Broken System." (Download the .pdf here.) The report is only 40 pages long, and it's un-fucking-believable. In it, Futterman and his co-authors H. Melissa Mather and Melanie Miles outline a blistering analysis of the CPD's "fundamental and systemic" problems, a "culture of not knowing" and a "machinery of denial" when it comes to charges of police abuse. We'll pull out some highlights here, but the entire report is really, really worth reading: more ›

What started as Chicago actor and director David Blixt’s creative inquiry into the Capulet-Montague feud quickly became so much more. The Master of Verona, Blixt’s debut novel set in 14th Century Italy, explores Italian political life, conspiracy, the life of Dante, and the possible backstory for Romeo and Juliet. While directing the aforementioned Shakespeare play years ago, he found its all-consuming resolution fascinating and troublesome, hinting at but never revealing the source of the families’ feud. So started an intense exploration that took the author to the Newberry Library, the University of Michigan, and the villa Serego Alighieri in Verona. more ›

First, you're diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and then you wait months and months on the UNOS list (along with about 100,000 other Americans) for an organ. But your case is rare; you actually get the transplant you need. Hurray! Unless you're one of four transplant recipients in Chicago whose new organs gave them HIV and hepatitis C. This is the first time in more than 20 years that donor organs have transmitted the virus.... more ›

The Hyde Park Co-operative Market has faced some trying times recently. They closed their 47th Street location in 2005, but are still paying rent on the empty store space due to a lease in which they're locked in until 2023 that's held by Certified Grocers, who also serves as the co-op's supplier. While they've been paying rent on the 47th street location, they're a year behind on rent at their 55th Street store (note: Adam... more ›

Yeah, people knew how to fly the friendly skies on November 21st, 1965, when the menu above was served on a United Airlines flight from Denver to San Francisco. This and 380 other menus from airlines, ocean liners, and railroad lines are available for perusal online at the Transportation Library archives of Northwestern University. The archives hark back to a time when multiple course meals were de rigueur not only for first class passengers,... more ›

Two students from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville were arrested for torturing a teenager by burning him with freshly baked cookies. Is nothing sacred? more ›

Over on Kid Nation, the episode focused on money and greed, as the Council receives directions to go to an abandoned, bat-infested mine (eee!), where they discover a treasure chest full of the town's currency, buffalo nickels. Faced with the decision of distributing the cash among the kids or buying items that the town can collectively share, the Council takes the "big government" approach, buying toys for the town. Shockingly, the kids are A-OK with... more ›

Loyola University Medical Center started testing all incoming patients for that drug-resistant staph germ that's been going around. Our version of a spa is where George Ryan's going to prison. Jesse Jackson Jr. throws a "tea party" style photo op, dumping bottled water in the Chicago River. Big talk for a man who opted not to run against His Elective Majesty for Mayor. Does El Cubanito make the best Cuban sandwich in town? You'll... more ›

This is the final week for the CTA as we know it, unless state funding kicks in. To highlight the upcoming doomsdsay, the CTA put on a quite a little show. more ›

University of Chicago econ professor Roger Myerson won the Nobel Prize in economics today for "[laying] the foundations of mechanism design theory." Myerson is the latest in a long line of U of C laureates. more ›

The president of Southern Illinois University plagiarized his thesis back in 1984, but school officials decided today that it was just a mistake, and he should keep his job. more ›