Rowdy arrestee pulls fire alarm

02/01/2012

Caitlin R. Bennett, of the 9800 block of South Damen Avenue, added to her troubles after trying to escape from a police station on the morning of Jan. 29. While being transported from a lock-up area at the 1st District police station at 1708 S. State St. after being arrested for a bail bond violation for other charges, Bennett, 22, reportedly struck a detention aide in the head and pulled a fire alarm in the facility in an attempt to make her escape.
Read more...

Going public

National Public Housing Museum design nears completion

02/01/2012

The reports of the National Public Housing Museum’s death have been greatly exaggerated. And, if everything goes according to plan, the museum would be fully open to the public by 2013.
Read more...

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

02/01/2012

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.
Read more...

Powell’s Books to replace University Village Barbara’s

02/01/2012

Less than a month after University Village’s Barbara’s Bookstore closed its doors, citing weak sales and poor foot traffic, a Chicago-based bookstore chain is moving into the space at 1218 S. Halsted St.
Read more...

Chicago Bears owners: keep Crane High School open

Two weeks before giving school $20,000, McCaskeys ask schools chief to respect George Halas' alma mater

02/01/2012

The family that owns the Chicago Bears is joining the fight to save the Near West Side's Crane High School, lobbying Chicago’s schools chief to keep Bears founder George Halas' alma mater open. Read More...

Chicago Park District reveals final plans for North Grant Park redo

Skate park, ice skating ribbon, climbing wall highlight features at new park

01/27/2012

The far north end of Grant Park is set to be completely torn up next fall, and this week the Chicago Park District unveiled the final plans for the massive rebuild. The new park will replace the rigidly structured, concrete-heavy Richard J. Daley Bicentennial Plaza with a more pastoral park featuring winding paths connecting wide lawns and hills with active areas.
Read More...

Meet the new guy

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

01/25/2012

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.
Read More...

Thief with expensive taste

01/25/2012

Dwayne A. Clemons wound up in handcuffs after trying to steal a bottle of pricey booze from a grocery store in the South Loop.
Read more...

UIC surgeons break surgical ground

01/25/2012

Robotic surgery to remove a gallbladder via a single port was performed for the first time in the Midwest recently by surgeons at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Gallbladder surgery using this method involves a single incision instead of multiple cuts and less scarring, according to Dr. Enrico Benedetti, head of the department of surgery at UIC.
Read More...

South Loop projects

01/25/2012

A new retail development is being planned along Roosevelt Road in the South Loop, and a new student rental tower is being planned at Van Buren Street and Wabash Avenue.
Read more...