Even though the city wants more liquor served and sold near the beach, Chicago police are stepping up security and targeting illegal drinking along the city’s lakefront. In the wake of increased violence at some city beaches, police have begun random searches of bags and coolers and installed more security cameras. Ald. Vi Daley (43rd Ward) told the Tribune the random bag searches wouldn’t be permanent, but was hopeful they would help curb incidents such as the large party broken up by police that Mayor Daley blamed on suburban youth and text messaging. more ›

Motorists chatting away on their cell phones could pay up to $500 under a new ordinance designed to strengthen Chicago’s cell phone ban. Ald. Vi Daley of the Lincoln Park area is pushing to increase fines from $75 to $100 for drivers caught yapping without a hands-free device. Fines for drivers who cause an accident while using a cell phone could increase from $250 to $500. more ›

Tom Tunney’s cracking down. The 44th Ward alderman has had it with Wrigleyville’s booze-soaked reputation. He’s sick of bar after bar after bar littering his neighborhood, sick of drunken young urban professionals that don’t act quite so professional after a long night out. He’s finally listening to constituents that are less than thrilled to wake up to a crusty puddle of vomit on their front steps. And he’s enlisting others to help with improvement of Chicago’s partyingest enclaves. more ›

Now that all the aldermanic candidates are rested and refreshed, and the runoffs are coming quickly upon us, there is a renewed sense of hatred and mudslinging in the wards that are still contested this year. In the 49th Ward, Alderman Joe Moore is pointing to the $60,000 that his opponent Don Gordon took from money manager David Herro of Harris Associates, a major Wal-Mart stock-holder. While connecting those dots requires a bit of a... more ›

Well, another municipal election has come in Chicago, and in many wards (but not all) it's gone. As expected, Richard M. Daley sailed to re-election, set to eclipse his father as the Chicago's longest-serving mayor, in spite of Ben Joravsky's best efforts. At the time of this writing, a few things are clear: there will be a few runoffs this year, including Madeline Haithcock - Bob Fioretti (2nd), Dorothy Tillman - Pat Dowell (3rd), Shirley... more ›

After a brief jaunt out west, Chicagoist is back at the homestead, making camp here on the prairie that is sweet home Chicago. But just because we took a long weekend doesn't mean that our elected officials did. Here's a look back at what's been newsworthy so far this week: Illinois junior senator Barack Obama has a huge lead — in MySpace friends! Outpacing Hillary Clinton's "friends" by some 20,000, he's clearly in the lead,... more ›

Concerned environmentalists in Chicago should know better than to expect satisfaction when the fate of a 100-year-old maple tree rests in the hands of the Department of Streets and Sanitation. In fact, when said tree is blocking the development of a multi-million dollar home, as we learned from this instructive Tribune report, they shouldn't just expect to lose their argument, they should also prepare to watch the object of their mercy get fed into a... more ›

Ben Joravsky's column in the The Reader this week addresses something every property owner is thinking: Cook County's property tax assessments are wack. We briefly mentioned this fact earlier this week, but Joravsky's article picks up on an interesting study by Merlin Tripp, of Citizens for Fair Assessments and Taxes. Tripp's study uses the financial disclosures of various Chicago public officials to get a sampling of how much property tax bills have actually risen over... more ›