Man shot at Roosevelt el station
Gun fired after argument between two groups; victim has gang ties
12/28/2011
A 21-year-old man was shot Monday evening on the Roosevelt Green and Orange Line el platform around 7 p.m., according to police.
Police said the man suffered a single gunshot wound to the torso and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious to critical condition. He’s since been released, police said.
Read more...Ten years after a bank collapsed, former customers are getting their money back and more
Pennies from heaven
12/21/2011
Dick McKinlay was on vacation when he got the call. He was up in Door County, Wis., that evening in late June 2002 when the phone rang, and it was bad news. It was the call that every soul who works at a bank hopes they’ll never get: The federal government’s two big bank regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision were on the line. The bank of which he was chairman, Universal Federal Savings at 1800 S. Halsted St. in Pilsen, was in trouble, they said.
Read More...Smyth pushing forward
A year after parent complaints, test results are way up at neighborhood school
12/21/2011
When Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced the list of schools that would be closed, merged and phased out in November, it set off howls and protests all across the city.
Read More...Chicago's Magnificent Mile raking in dough
Downtown retailers getting ready for final surge of holiday shoppers
12/21/2011
Fair weather, steady crowds and ample staffing have made this year's downtown Chicago shopping season a successful one - and retailers there are hoping for a strong finish.
Read More...Map mania threatens aldermanic havoc in Chicago
Two competing maps would carve up South and West Loop, bring in new politicians and banish others
12/21/2011
Two dueling maps are aiming to redraw Chicago's political battle lines, and both upset the apple cart for aldermen in the South Loop, adding new politicians to the dense area's mix.
Read more...Photos: Windy City Performing Arts sing at Millennium Park
12/14/2011
Web Extra! Slideshow
Carolers from Windy City Performing Arts sing at Millennium Park
on Friday. Read More...
Teachers, faculty, community brainstorm how to save Crane High School
From the ground up
12/14/2011
Hunched over round tables in the basement of St. Malachy School at 2252 W. Washington Blvd., the 50-some teachers, union members, politicians and community leaders sat and raptly watched the front of the room last Thursday night. They were there to save a school, Richard T. Crane Tech. Chicago Public Schools announced earlier this month that they planned to close one grade at a time over the next four years.
Read more...Last call for booze sellers in part of Pilsen
Push from Solis to nix liquor sales mystifies neighbors
12/14/2011
An ordinance authored by Ald. Danny Solis (25th) to put a moratorium on liquor licenses for a very specific part of Pilsen is puzzling local residents. The ordinance, which was expected to pass the full City Council Wednesday, would place a moratorium on additional liquor licenses on a two-block swath of Cermak Road, between Damen and Leavitt avenues.
Read more...A world-friendly cup of coffee
La Colombe's brew comes chock full of environmental ethics
12/14/2011
My first interaction with Todd Carmichael was an email from Africa. After writing to inquire about his coffee company, La Colombe Torrefaction, his reply came surprising quickly given his circumstances.
Read More...Garfield Park Conservatory restoring greenhouses, preparing for winter
Putting the pieces back together
12/14/2011
Tropical weather is coming back to Chicago - at least inside the greenhouses of the Garfield Park Conservatory. The display gardens are being prepped for winter by installing protective insulation while continuing repairs from the damaging hailstorm this past June.
Read More...