The Art Institute of Chicago's new exhibit shows a glimpse of that brief period of time when Americans and Soviets begrudgingly got along. more ›

It's always a pleasant surprise to be thanked for my military service. more ›

Now this is cool: the wreckage of a F4U-1 Corsair Fighter was pulled from Lake Michigan in Waukegan today. The salvage operation was privately financed by Chuck Greenhill, a Korean War veteran. more ›

Metra officials voted today to raise fares 10 percent in January, and again in Jan 2009 and '10. But Sunday service is safe. Osyp "Joe" Firishchak, an 87-year-old Chicago resident, is being deported to the Ukraine for aiding the Nazis during World War II. Firishchak, who has lived in the United States since 1949, has until December 10 to appeal. Holy crap, that's a lot of people: 47 people were arrested for a high school... more ›

Oh, look, it's time for another sensationalist story about the internet. Let's see... sexual predators on the web? Nah, that's too played out. We know: Hate speech! Let's get to it. Trib says: "It might come as a surprise to the soldiers who defeated fascism in World War II, but the United States has become a refuge for Nazism and other brands of extremism over the last decade. On the Internet, that is." We say:... more ›

This weekend beach goers will have the chance to view a little bit of history flying overhead. The Wings of Freedom Tour is bringing their B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell World War II aircraft to the Chicagoland area. The airplanes will be based at Chicago Executive Airport (formerly Palwaukee) from Friday through Monday and conducting flights up and down the lake front. These unique planes will be on display at Chicago Executive... more ›

Hell may freeze over yet. After all of daddy John’s efforts to demolish old Cook County General Hospital, Todd Stroger’s leading the charge to renovate the beast. The Toddler plans to make it an agenda at next week’s County Board meeting. Preservation and renovation carry a price tag of roughly $140 million. For now, the plan is to turn the 93-year-old structure into medical office space, libraries, a day-care center and, if there’s any space... more ›

Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day was first commemorated after the Civil War as a way to honor fallen Union soldiers. After World War I it was expanded to honor all men and women who died in a US war or military action. It was originally observed on May 30, but since becoming a federal holiday, is now always observed on the last Monday in May, effectively creating a national three-day weekend. For many,... more ›

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Chicago has been recently been celebrated for its achievements in haute cuisine. And while we love discussing the merits of molecular gastronomy vs. locally and organically grown, we know that eating out night after night isn't realistic for most Chicagoans. It certainly isn't realistic for us. more ›

En route to Milwaukee to visit relatives, a 42-year-old woman gave birth to a baby girl on a Mexicana Airlines flight from Guadalajara, Mexico. The plane landed at O'Hare, and officials say the 7-pound, 8-ounce baby was delivered on the aircraft by an obstetrician. Obstetricians on a Plane is currently in the works. more ›

Iva Toguri, a Chicago native once convicted of treason for allegedly being one of the voices of the infamous Japanese radio siren "Tokyo Rose" during World War II, died at the age of 90 on Tuesday. She had run her family's store, J. Toguri Mercantile near Belmont and Clark for 50 years since the war. Toguri had been visiting a relative in Japan when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Stuck in the country, she took a... more ›

Yesterday evening, around 6:45, we noticed the sky was showing quite a bit of movement, slowly becoming a little darker and a little scarier by the second. The rain slowly started, and we heard the cries of the sirens. Passersby must have noticed our befuddlement as they alerted us that this was a tornado siren. We raced for shelter, quite awkwardly we should add, passing a lot of people that didn't seem to care that they were on the verge of being sucked up and thrown hundreds of feet across the city. Soaked, we sat at the computer and got a little more acquainted with the Public Alert Warning System, aka PAWS. It is really called that. more ›

Anyone working downtown realized today that the 48th Annual Air & Water Show is this weekend. Aircraft participating in this year's event started roaring up and down the lakeshore today in preparation for this weekend's show. Chicagoist had the opportunity fly with the AeroShell Aerobatic Team this morning to check out the pilots to ensure they were ready for the show. The AeroShell Team is comprised of four T-6 Texans and four planes used to... more ›

Is it just us, or has this been a really long week? No? Just us? Well our partners in stupid sure managed to get a lot done this week. And for that we thank them for a job well done. We’re all about efficiency. Whether you’re filling out a spreadsheet or committing a felony – work smart people! A 32-year-old Rolling Meadows woman managed to raise all sorts of hell Monday evening, and during the... more ›

Although President Bush has only a 35 percent approval rating in the U.S., the restaurant industry seems to have a much higher opinion. In the course of his one-hour speech at the National Restaurant Association Show at McCormick Place, Bush received several enthusiastic cheers and standing ovations. Chicagoist has attended the Restaurant Show for several years. The event draws some big-name speakers (Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, Ted Koppel), but no speaker has been as high-profile... more ›

Sister City Selection? more ›

This week marked the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the only wartime deployment of nuclear weaponry, hastening Japanese surrender to the Allies and the end of World War II. The calm, measured accounts of history books can’t approach the horror that the Axis powers were inflicting upon the world and the subsequent horror of hundreds of thousands of Hiroshima and Nagasaki residents perishing in the blasts and subsequent aftermaths. The necessity of... more ›

Cancer is a total dick. It didn't allow the media even one day to grieve one family member's death before killing another member. It took Peter Jennings yesterday, and today it took John H. Johnson, publisher of EBONY and JET magazines. There's plenty of news about ole P.J. so we're going to stick to Johnson. more ›

You can't keep those Londoners down. more ›

When it comes to vintage Broadway musicals (well, vintage in the “Andrew Lloyd Webber late-’70s imported pop-opera crapfest” sense), Evita rocks the top of our chart. Subtle it ain’t, nor is it the smartest show in the world, but it’s chock full of catchy kitschy tunes, and sometimes that’s all we can handle at the end of a dreary workweek. And where else can you see three honest-to-God historical figurines—post-World War II Argentine president Juan Peron, his actress/social climber wife Eva, and communist revolutionary Che Guevara—singing at each other in faux-Latin accents to quasi-disco rhythms onstage? more ›