Pete's Fresh Market finally closes purchase of Near West Side site

01/26/2012 7:14 PM

After numerous delays, Pete’s Fresh Market finally owns the property they’re planning to build a grocery store on at Madison Street and Western Avenue, Ald. Bob Fioretti said in an email Thursday evening.
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• One Sixtyblue to reopen in spring 2012 as Asian barbecue

   01/24/2012 4:47 PM

• Remap results: A look at West Loop, Near West Side's now-dominant Ald. Walter Burnett

   01/21/2012 11:00 AM

• Remap results: New majority South Loop aldermen Burns, Dowell speak up

   01/20/2012 5:23 PM

Well suited

Brooks Brothers tailor Alex Jasiak measures the coat sleeve of Miguel Cardozo at the Illinois Education Foundation’s annual Suited for Success event at the Standard Club in Chicago, Saturday, Jan. 21. Fifty IEF scholars were fitted with suits and also received dress shoes, dress shirts, ties and even briefcases.
J. GEIL/Photo Editor



Ward remap passes

2nd Ward blown up, banished to North Side, but Fioretti promises to stick around

01/25/2012 10:00 PM

Bob Fioretti is not happy. Less than a year ago, he was elected to his second term as alderman of Chicago’s 2nd Ward, a sprawling city council district that stretched from the Near South Side all the way west to East Garfield Park, becoming the dominant alderman in the South Loop and Near West Side, as well as much of the West Loop.
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Still developing

Former Alderman Ted Mazola forging through recession in University Village, South Loop

01/25/2012 10:00 PM

Ted Mazola has a booming voice, an easy laugh, and a philanthropic vision for the vibrant, charming and diversified University Village neighborhood he has always called home. In the area where he lives and does business, the affable 62-year-old has been a one-term alderman of the 1st Ward, co-founder of the University Village Association, a driving force behind the rejuvenation of Maxwell Street and a board member of the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind.
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City steps up nuisance business laws

New amendment expands law beyond late-night operators, wipes out signature requirements

01/25/2012 10:00 PM

The city is changing how it reviews operating licenses for businesses that get complaints from neighbors. Last week, the city council pushed through a series of amendments aimed at tightening Chicago’s deleterious impact and public nuisance ordinance — a set of regulations that give residents in Chicago a platform for “addressing negative quality of life and public safety concerns in their neighborhoods” caused by new liquor license applicants or existing liquor establishments.
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Crane teachers, activists unveil turnaround plan

With clock ticking on phase-out vote, no indication CPS is listening

01/25/2012 10:00 PM

A coalition of Crane teachers, students, parents and Near West Side community activists unveiled a plan Friday night to turn around the 109-year-old high school at 2245 W. Jackson Blvd., focusing on adding programming and services to the school.
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Meet the new guy

A look back at new South Loop Ald. Will Burns' record, and how he got here

01/25/2012 10:00 PM

Ald. Will Burns isn’t a complete stranger to South Loop. Between 2008 and 2010, he represented the 26th District in the Illinois General Assembly, a district that stretched from Gold Coast to South Shore neighborhoods, moving through South Loop along the thin sliver of land east of Michigan Avenue. But state representatives don’t have nearly the same impact on Chicagoans’ day-to-day lives as aldermen. And since the recent ward remap put Burns’ 4th Ward into the parts of South Loop, Burns has became more relevant than ever before.
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A blog by Bonnie McGrath

Irish wake

01/27/2012 1:48 AM

It's awfully sad to see Jack go--but what a sendoff! (No Comments) Read more...

• The new map may be breaking up more than South Loop neighborhoods

   01/26/2012 12:30 PM

• More crime in the South Loop

   01/20/2012 2:50 PM

A blog by AmySue Mertens

Divine Dine + Wine curbs craving for summer fests

01/26/2012 3:09 PM

Craving a warm, neighborhood event to soften winter’s blow? WCA has just the event for you.
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• Beliefs about public service, servants get a check up

   01/18/2012 1:02 PM

• Christmas turned to mulch

   01/13/2012 3:27 PM

Arts and culture in Chicago

The ghost isn't here

01/25/2012 10:00 PM

The man sitting across the aisle is dead. I mean, he sure looks dead. He sits slack in his chair, his silver-haired head fallen and drooped slightly to the right, resting his chin on his shoulder. His eyes lay shut while gravity pulls salt-water taffy lips south from a slack mouth.
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• Butcher & the Burger's Chef Al goes half hog

   01/18/2012 10:00 PM